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posted by chromas on Wednesday April 11 2018, @04:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the Mister-Potato-Head!-Mister-Potato-Head!-Back-doors-are-not-secrets! dept.

Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are preparing legislation that would regulate encryption and potentially mandate "backdoors." The Senate Judiciary Committee has been meeting with tech lobbyists and at least three researchers to come up with a "secure way" to allow only law enforcement to access encrypted information:

US lawmakers are yet again trying to force backdoors into tech products, allowing Uncle Sam, and anyone else with the necessary skills, to rifle through people's private encrypted information. Two years after her effort to introduce new legislation died, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is again spearheading an effort to make it possible for law enforcement to access any information sent or stored electronically. Such a backdoor could be exploited by skilled miscreants to also read people's files and communications, crypto-experts continue to warn.

Tech lobbyists this month met the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the proposed legislation – a sign that politicians have changed tactics since trying, and failing, to force through new laws back in 2016. New York District Attorney and backdoor advocate Cyrus Vance (D-NY) also briefed the same committee late last month about why he felt new legislation was necessary. Vance has been arguing for fresh anti-encryption laws for several years, even producing a 42-page report back in November 2015 that walked through how the inability to trawl through people's personal communications was making his job harder.

Tech lobbyists and Congressional staffers have been leaking details of the meetings to, among others, Politico and the New York Times.

From the NYT article:

A National Academy of Sciences committee completed an 18-month study of the encryption debate, publishing a report last month. While it largely described challenges to solving the problem, one section cited presentations by several technologists who are developing potential approaches. They included Ray Ozzie, a former chief software architect at Microsoft; Stefan Savage, a computer science professor at the University of California, San Diego; and Ernie Brickell, a former chief security officer at Intel.

[...] The researchers, Mr. Ozzie said, recognized that "this issue is not going away," and were trying to foster "constructive dialogue" rather than declaring that no solution is possible.

Also at The Hill.

Previously: New Paper on The Risks of "Responsible Encryption"
Report On Device Encryption Suggests A Few Ways Forward For Law Enforcement
Senator Wyden Calls on Digital Rights Activists to Block Legislative Efforts to Weaken Encryption


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