Important detail that is missing in the article and that some are getting wrong in the comments: This is not about forcing messengers to add backdoors for mass surveillance or weakening the messenger/its encryption in general (although that indeed is the wet dream of some governments/agencies). It’s about infecting the phone/device of a suspect with spyware (either by hacking remotely or with physical access, although in secret of course) and sniffing their communication before it’s encrypted/leaves the devices (or after decryption for incoming messages). Every case must be individually approved by several judges so cops can’t just use this willy-nilly, the crime they’re investigating must be quite serious (punishable by at least 10 years in prison) and it’s limited to 30 cases per year.
Important detail that is missing in the article and that some are getting wrong in the comments: This is not about forcing messengers to add backdoors for mass surveillance or weakening the messenger/its encryption in general (although that indeed is the wet dream of some governments/agencies). It’s about infecting the phone/device of a suspect with spyware (either by hacking remotely or with physical access, although in secret of course) and sniffing their communication before it’s encrypted/leaves the devices (or after decryption for incoming messages). Every case must be individually approved by several judges so cops can’t just use this willy-nilly, the crime they’re investigating must be quite serious (punishable by at least 10 years in prison) and it’s limited to 30 cases per year.