Yup, next time the ITU tries to assert control over some aspect of the Internet, it's going to be a lot more difficult to prevent because of this.

Why do you blame companies? If you were the CEO of Google and a government official came to you with a request for a backdoor and a solid promise to make life real hard for you if you refuse to cooperate, what would you do?

I guess I would put up a very public fight over it, take them to court, make it a cause celebre.

Google's reputation is, after all, based on "do no evil", is it not? Hundreds of millions of people all over the world trusted them to ethically handle ads and personal data and all that. Google took a principled stand on Chinese spying and censorship, remember, and it cost them probably billions of dollars in business in mainland China.

A reputation, once lost, is not easily restored.

I like to think that I would react as did Todd Beamer and the other passengers of Flight 93. Sometimes circumstances call for heroic action at the risk of one's self.

I'll tell you what I would do if I was a government official. I'd smile and ask you kindly if you are sure you don't want to cooperate. If you say you are, I'd leave. Then I'd find every piece of evidence I have against you and your company, get public opinion on my side, sue you, destroy your reputation, give hidden subsidies to your competitors, accuse you personally of tax evasion and your company of not acting in the interests of public. It wouldn't destroy your company, but you'll lose plenty of money, the public wouldn't listen to you because you'd have no evidence and because the public opinion is on my side already. No one will ever know of your courageous act. More importantly, by punishing you I'd show other companies what happens to those who misbehave.

And don't be naive. The judges are in my pocket, public opinion is in my pocket, I have power which your money can never buy and you are on your own, as all of your competitors are just waiting for the chance to jump in and destroy you.

Not that relevant an analogy: Beamer and company knew it was very likely, whatever they did or didn't do, that they were going to die within a few hours. They also knew they could likely save a lot of lives by acting.

It is not immediately clear the stakes are that high, and a counterargument with some validity is that a failure to cooperate will cost a lot of lives from future mass causality terrorist actions. And the penalty is squalid, e.g. see the example of Federal prisoner Joseph Nacchio, former CEO of Qwest. Note the truth behind his conviction doesn't matter a long as there is enough solid suspicion.