(Telecompaper) The Obama administration has backed down in its dispute with Silicon Valley over the encryption of data on iPhones and other digital devices, concluding that it is not possible to give US law enforcement and intelligence agencies access to that information without also creating an opening that cybercriminals and terrorists could exploit, the New York Times reported. With its decision, which angered the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, the administration essentially agreed with Apple, Google, Microsoft and a group of the nation's top cryptographers and computer scientists that US inhabitants would be vulnerable to hacking if technology firms and smartphone manufacturers were required to provide the government with "back doors," or access to their source code and encryption keys. This would enable the government to see messages, photographs and other data now routinely encrypted on smartphones. Current technology puts the keys for access to the information in the hands of the individual user, not the companies.