Exploits of "lawful access" interfaces, such as the Chinese attack reported today by the WSJ, appeared almost immediately after they became standardized in the 90's. The most famous example is the case known as "the Athens Affair" https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-athens-affair .

It was a bad idea then, and still a bad idea now.

Mandated wiretap interfaces and cryptographic backdoors are *expensive*, both in terms of money and, more importantly, exposure to risk. Worse, those burdens are borne inequitably.

Overall, almost no one is the subject of a lawful wiretap, even in places where wiretapping is an important investigative tool. Most people aren't suspects. But these mandates degrade security (and impose other costs) for *everyone*, the vast majority of whom will never be wiretapped.