Let's look at that quote again:
"I simply maintain that companies should retain the capability to provide the government unencrypted copies of communications and data stored on devices, when a court orders them to do so."
I don't see any demand there to store the plaintext. Merely "the capability" to produce plaintext on demand. I.e. the encryption key.
A lot depends on what he means by "companies". If he's talking about ISPs or hosting companies, then - yes, he's an idiot and we've made only slight progress. But if he simply means that if an employee of "XYZ Inc", acting in their official capacity and using company channels, sends an encrypted email, then a court should be able to demand a decrypted version from the company - that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
