Feds put heat on Web firms for master encryption keys (CNET)

While I agree with most of your point, the legal structure we set up in the US was that we had internal "policing" and externally-facing spooks.

The "policing" and by that I mean the FBI were obviously partly spooks too but with a slightly different charter.

That both wings quickly dispensed with their charters and did what they felt like i think speaks volumes. The right thing to do is to have such groups, but limited in scope, on a short leash, and not periodically given any greater leeway.