Obama advocates for government access to smartphones at SXSW

Private citizens' smartphones should be accessible to the government, President Obama said in his South by Southwest keynote Friday, Variety reports. To want total privacy on the devices, he suggested, is "fetishizing."

"How do we disrupt a terrorist plot? What mechanisms do we have available to do even simple things like tax enforcement?" he said. "There has to be some concessions to get into that information."

Obama didn't comment directly on the ongoing spat between Apple and the FBI over unlocking a San Bernardino terrorist's iPhone. His overall stance doesn't mean he thinks the government should be able to access smartphones for just any reason.

"I am of the view there are real reasons we should make sure government can't willy-nilly get in everyone's iPhone," Obama said.