Is it meaningfully misleading? How often is this an obstacle for the FBI?
There is reasonable suspicion, some might argue evidence, that Microsoft voluntarily cooperated with U.S. Intelligence Community without being compelled by a court order, the most famous instances being leaked in the Snowden disclosures.
To be fair to Microsoft, here's their updated statement (emphasis mine):
"Microsoft confirmed to Forbes that it does provide BitLocker recovery keys if it receives a valid legal order. “While key recovery offers convenience, it also carries a risk of unwanted access, so Microsoft believes customers are in the best position to decide... how to manage their keys,” said Microsoft spokesperson Charles Chamberlayne."
First they are capable of fulfilling the request in the first place which means their approach or encryption is inherently flawed. Second companies can very much push back on such requests with many examples of such working, but they need to make the attempt.
They do seem to be reasonable in the case that brought about this reporting, with substantial evidence that the suspects committed fraud and that evidence is on the devices in question.
So why should customers entrust their data to the company? It’s a transactional relationship and the less you do the less reason someone has to pay you.
Further, our legal system is adversarial it assumes someone is going to defend you. Without that there’s effectively zero protection for individuals.
You're making a lot of assumptions about how people use their computers, their understanding of their own devices, and the banality of building argumentation around what someone should have done or should not have done in the face of how reality works.
One of the privacy protections is simply that it's a lot of work to go through that process. The FBI wouldn't have the resources to do it to everyone it's merely curious about even if it had the authority, which it doesn't because warrants require probable cause.
I believe that it's generally acceptable that when law enforcement has probable cause for a search warrant, third parties grant them what access they reasonably can. I also believe people who actually want to protect their privacy and security should learn fundamentals like whoever has the key can unlock it and if nobody has the key, it's gone forever. If I was building a consumer product, I'd have to care quite a bit about the fact that many people won't do that, but I'm not so I don't.
I realize it's not a court order, but just want to add to the stack that there are examples of them being requested to provide something within the public's interest in a legal context (a FOIA lawsuit) where their counsel pushed back by saying no.
It could be a bigger obstacle for other agencies. CBP can hold a device carried by someone crossing the border without judicial oversight. ICE is in the midst of a hiring surge and from what I've read lately, has an abbreviated screening and training process likely not matching the rigor of the FBI. Local law enforcement agencies vary greatly.
I keep seeing mentions in the news of FBI agents resigning suddenly.
Having said that I won’t go back to Windows.
Inlight of fascism coming to Democratic cities and anyone documenting it being a registered domestic terrorist...well thats pretty f'n insecure by default.