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Following a recent attempt in New York to legislate backdoors or ban encrypted devices, a California lawmaker is trying to do the same. Only this time, the boogeyman is human trafficking:
A second state lawmaker has now introduced a bill that would prohibit the sale of smartphones with unbreakable encryption. Except this time, despite very similar language to a pending New York bill, the stated rationale is to fight human trafficking, rather than terrorism.
Specifically, California Assemblymember Jim Cooper's (D-Elk Grove) new bill, which was introduced Wednesday, would "require a smartphone that is manufactured on or after January 1, 2017, and sold in California, to be capable of being decrypted and unlocked by its manufacturer or its operating system provider."
If the bill passes both the Assembly and State Senate and is signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown (D), it would affect modern iOS and Android devices, which enable full-disk encryption that neither Apple nor Google can access. AB 1681's language is nearly identical to another bill re-introduced in New York state earlier this month, but Cooper denied that it was based on any model legislation, saying simply that it was researched by his staff. He also noted that the sale of his own iPhone would be made illegal in California under this bill.
Cooper himself, a 30 year veteran with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, told Ars that allowing local law enforcement to access unencrypted phones through the warrant process was not the same thing as allowing the National Security Agency or the CIA free rein. He also noted that "99 percent" of Californians would never have their phones be implicated in a law enforcement operation, implying that they should not have to worry.
Engadget puts it best: "The bill would put every Californian's digital security at risk to prosecute a few pimps."
In other Crypto War news, NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers recently said that "encryption is foundational to the future," staking an opposite position from that of FBI Director James Comey.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 25 2016, @12:03PM
Oh, the KaliFornicators will get it passed. Those assholes are so afraid of not being regulated, legislated and taxed that they'll slobber all over any chance to be further enslaved by their government masters. They're a testing ground for stripping away American liberty and Freedom.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 25 2016, @05:10PM
Let them pass it! I'll continue to encrypt my facebook posts while I rip the tags off of my mattress that is stuffed with substances known to the state of kalifornia to cause cancer if fed in huge quantities to gerbils. I'll drive my cancered up gerbils in my '68 non-CARB compliant vw beetle, spewing nasty carbons into the air and laugh at their silly rules.