FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday said the bureau plans to engage the public in an adult conversation about the impending collision between electronic privacy and national security — an issue as prominent in healthcare as perhaps any other industry today.

Americans should have a reasonable expectation of privacy in houses, cars and electronic devices, Comey said, but that doesn’t mean it’s an absolute right.

"With good reason, the people of the United States — through judges and law enforcement — can invade our public spaces," Comey said, explaining that the bargain has been an essential fabric of the country since its founding.

[Also: FBI beats Apple and inadvertently proves encrypted data isn't safe from cybercriminals]

At the heart of the issue is the default encryption settings in smartphones and other devices running iOS and Android operating systems that are "making more and more of the room that we are charged to investigate dark," Comey said in an article on NBC New York.

Earlier this year, the FBI clashed with Apple over access to a locked iPhone related to a terror case. Apple refused to divulge information to open to phone, the Justice Department threatened with a lawsuit, and then the FBI managed to access the device from other sources.

The takeaway for healthcare chief information security officers: Simply encrypting devices and data might be a get-out-of-jail-free card for HIPAA regulations but it doesn’t actually mean that patient data is safe from cybercriminals. If the FBI can get into a smartphone, after all, then so can sophisticated thieves.

Although the Justice Department held off seeking legislation to compel Apple and other companies from providing codes to open devices in special cases, Comey said during a Symantec security conference that he expects to continue the discussion.

"The conversation we've been trying to have about this has dipped below public consciousness now, and that's fine," Comey said. "Because what we want to do is collect information this year so that next year we can have an adult conversation."

Comey also called for greater communication and collaboration between the federal government and technology vendors.

“I actually think our long-term interests are the same, because you’re kidding yourself if you think that problem is going to go away and not return to victimize you,” Comey said, according to a MeriTalk article. “We’re going to hound you, and explain to you over and over and over again why it’s in your interest, and why, as a matter of practice, we can work well together.”

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