Government emasculation of encryption privacy may be blocked for now

Posted by ewv 7 years, 9 months ago to Politics
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Senate proposal to require encryption workarounds may be dead

Opposition may doom effort to require tech vendors to assist law enforcement with unlocking devices

"A proposal in the U.S. Senate to require smartphone OS developers and other tech vendors to break their own encryption at the request of law enforcement may be dead on arrival.

"The proposal, released as a discussion draft last month, may not be formally introduced this year because of strong opposition, according to a Reuters report.

"The draft bill, pushed by Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, would allow judges to order tech companies to comply with requests from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to help them defeat security measures and break into devices.

“All persons receiving an authorized judicial order for information or data must provide, in a timely manner, responsive, intelligible information or data, or appropriate technical assistance,' the draft bill said..."

PCWorld 5/27/16 http://www.pcworld.com/article/307613...

Reuters 5/27/16 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa...

"Senators release official draft of federal encryption legislation" 4/13/16 http://www.infoworld.com/article/3055...
SOURCE URL: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3076133/security/senate-proposal-to-require-encryption-workarounds-may-be-dead.html


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  • Posted by 7 years, 9 months ago
    Original "you'll do it somehow Mr. Rearden" bill -- "Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016’’ -- has the kind of thinking and slogans that are right out of Atlas Shrugged: http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/publi...

    From section 2

    "(1) no person or entity is above the law; [including government officials?]

    "(2) economic growth, prosperity, security, stability, and liberty require adherence to the rule of law; ... ["rule of law" redefined to be rule of statism required for All Things Good.]

    "(4) all providers of communications services and products (including software) should protect the privacy of United States persons through implementation of appropriate data security and still respect the rule of law and comply with all legal requirements and court orders; to uphold both the rule of law and protect the interests and security of the United States, all persons receiving an authorized judicial order for information or data must provide, in a timely manner, responsive, intelligible information or data, or appropriate technical assistance to obtain such information or data;" [You'll do it somehow Mr. Rearden, but "all persons receiving an order" is much broader.]

    From section 3

    "(b) DESIGN LIMITATIONS
    Nothing in this Act may be construed to authorize any government officer to require or prohibit any specific design or operating system to be adopted by any covered entity." [You'll do it somehow Mr. Rearden, we won't tell you how or call it an 'encryption back door', just ensure it comes out the way we may want in the name of "rule of law".]
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