It's a legislative shot across the bow of the FBI, who are demanding back-doors in phones and other devices, claiming "children will die" unless our pocket supercomputers are designed to allow untrusted parties to secretly take them over.
Wyden points out that crypto that is as strong and well-implemented as possible is the best way to keep Americans' data safe.
Wyden makes me want to move to Oregon. It'd be nice to be represented by a lawmaker who wasn't a total, colossal asshole for a change.
U.S. government and independent experts have extensively documented the multi-billion dollar threat
posed by constant cyberattacks from criminal organizations and foreign government-sponsored hackers.
The U.S. government also urges private companies and individuals to protect sensitive personal and
business data, including through the use of data security technologies such as encryption. The recent
proposals from
U.S. law enforcement
officials
to undercut the development and deployment of strong
data security technologies by compelling companies to build backdoors
in
the security
features of their
products
work against the overwhelming economic and national security interest in better data security.Moreover, the decision of government officials to
repeatedly
mislead the American public about
domestic surveillance activities has resulted in an erosion of public trust.
Requiring
computer hardware
and software companies to
now
create
intentional gaps in their data
security products
to facilitate
further
government access
to personal data
will undermine the
effort
to restore trust in the U.S. digital
economy.Government-driven technology
mandates to weaken
data
security for the purpose of aiding
government
investigations would compromise
national security, economic security and personal privacy.
Sen. Wyden puts forward a bill to ban data "backdoors" [Joe Mullin/Ars Technica]
(Image: Senator Ron Wyden., Sam Craig, CC-BY-SA)
