I believe that the decision to start encrypting data will just make it harder for local law enforcement to attain your data. When they subpoena Apple for your data they will get the encrypted data. The NSA will probably also receive your data encrypted however they probably won't have any problem unencrypting it.
When they subpoena Apple, they will get cloud data which will not be decrypted. The issue is whether they would be able to give Apple a device and say 'decrypt plz'.
If the device is backed up in iCloud, Apple already has the decryption key and will have to provide it if they receive a supoena. The only way you're safe, even in theory, is to only do local encrypted backups.
The whole point of the updated system is that they don't have your decryption key. They will still turn over encrypted data, but LE won't be able to decrypt. That might be a leap of faith though.
> The whole point of the updated system is that they don't have your decryption key.
It's a nice thought.[1]
> While Apple does not have the crypto keys that can unlock the data on iOS 8 devices, they do have access to your iCloud backup data. Apple encrypts your iCloud data in storage, but they encrypt it with their own key, not with your passcode key, which means that they are able to decrypt it to comply with government requests.
No, he's saying the decryption key will be a simple passcode for an encrypted private key stored on apple's servers, or something even worse than that. Promising, ain't it? ...with the examples we have of the type of passwords people use...
