That didn't take long. The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr (R-N.C.), is backing off on trial-balloon legislation he floated Thursday that would criminalize Apple's or any other firm's refusal to assist the government's encryption efforts.

The change of heart comes on the heels of a whirlwind week surrounding the encryption debate—a week in which a federal judge ordered Apple to aid the authorities in unlocking an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Soon after came Apple chief Tim Cook's angry response to the order alongside much public debate, and Burr's proposal followed on Thursday.

A Burr spokeswoman said on Friday, however, that the lawmaker is "studying" whether to "tighten rules about encryption."

"Chairman Burr is not considering criminal penalties in his draft encryption proposals," his spokeswoman, Rebecca Watkins, told Ars in an e-mail on Friday.

In a USA Today op-ed on Thursday, Burr wrote that Apple has "wrongly chosen to prioritize its business model above compliance with a lawfully issued court order." His op-ed came a day after NSA Director Michael Rogers said the Paris attacks "would not have happened" without crypto.

Burr was referring to the iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife was responsible for the December terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California. That iPhone has been seized by the FBI. Federal prosecutors succeeded in getting a court order on Tuesday to compel Apple to aid the government in unlocking that phone. A federal judge agreed that a 1789 law required Apple to write software to remove Apple's restrictions on password guessing, which would allow the authorities to brute-force attack the phone to gain access.

Apple is resisting and has until February 26 to respond formally to the court order. Congress has not passed a law requiring such assistance, but the All Writs Act allows judges to issue orders despite Congressional silence on an issue.