Comey also insisted that "none of us" in the American public want backdoor access for law enforcement. Officials just want to "accommodate both interests [privacy and access] in a sensible way," he added.

On the surface, the attempt to find common ground is logical. However, it suggests that Comey and Feinstein still don't understand what they're asking. In order for a company to decrypt a device in a reasonable amount of time, it has to purposefully compromise its encryption -- whether through backdoors, lower-quality encryption methods or ditching end-to-end encryption altogether. That, in turn, makes it easier for any attacker to get in. As noble as the idea of reaching a balance may be, there may not be much choice but to accept that device data is sometimes off-limits.