If you’re an anti-virus software vendor, your product’s job is to detect viruses, worms, and, of course, Trojan Horses. These are bits of code, disguised as a legitimate program, that infect a machine and send information or commands or copies of themselves on to other machines.
But what if the Trojan Horse in question is called Magic Lantern, and it’s been developed by the FBI to help monitor PCs of suspected criminals and terrorists (with the appropriate legal pre-approvals, of course)? Do you still detect it, thus interfering with law enforcement? Or do you intentionally leave that back door in place?
But if you leave that back door in place, what happens if Magic Lantern gets hacked and used by others for illegitimate purposes?
And if you have customers outside the US who might reasonably want protection against American law enforcement agencies, do you end up with separate versions for the US and abroad? Would the FBI be happy with that?
And what if Interpol, or MI.6, or the French police, or the Russian police, or the Chinese police come to you with plans to do the same thing, and wants you to let their Trojan Horse through, too?
Who’d’ve thunk being an anti-virus company could get so morally ambiguious?