FBI Director James Comey on Thursday said he is concerned about moves by Apple Inc. AAPL -3.42% and Google Inc. GOOGL -1.81% to market phones that can't be searched by law enforcement, saying agency officials have engaged in discussions with both companies.
James Comey
on Thursday said he is concerned about moves by
Apple Inc.
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to market phones that can't be searched by law enforcement, saying agency officials have engaged in discussions with both companies.
"What concerns me about this is companies marketing something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law," Mr. Comey said in a briefing with reporters.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation director said he wants to understand the technology better, adding that "it may be time" for a national conversation about whether "we doing things that no longer make sense, that are no longer consistent with our commitment that we are a country of law where no one is beyond the law."
He said FBI officials have been in touch with the companies "to understand what they're thinking and why they think it makes sense."
Apple announced last week its new phone operating system would prevent law enforcement from retrieving data stored on a locked phone. Google a day later reiterated the next version of its Android mobile-operating system, slated to be released this fall, would make it similarly difficult for police or Google to extract data from suspects' phones.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that law-enforcement officials in Washington were bracing for a confrontation with Silicon Valley on the issue.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the iPhone maker is in talks with the FBI and pointed to Apple Chief Executive
Tim Cook's
recent comments on data protection.
"People have a right to privacy," Mr. Cook said in an interview this month with Charlie Rose. "And I think that's going to be a very key topic over the next year or so."
Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
—Daisuke Wakabayashi contributed to this article.
Write to Brent Kendall at [email protected]