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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Top law enforcement officials and Silicon Valley leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, met on Friday to discuss topics related to support for terrorism on social media, as well as encryption [npr.org]:

Media were not invited to the Silicon Valley meeting. NPR talked with spokespeople from several companies who were attending, and got a copy of the email invite. It's a powerhouse list: White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and National Intelligence Director James Clapper.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was there. Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo were among the other companies that confirmed attendance.

The word "encryption" is mentioned in the invite. But companies who'd be very relevant to that conversation, like Cisco, were not invited. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said encryption was likely to come up at the meeting, but he described it as a "thornier" issue.

[...] A spokesperson from one company at the meeting, who didn't want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issues involved, said it's almost as if the administration wants a Madison Avenue ad campaign, only coming from tech geeks. Another criticized the event as a "bait and switch." Companies were told, more or less: "Hey, the government wants to brainstorm with the very best engineers about how technology can help fight terrorism," the second source said. It was similar in tone to the White House's call for tech support [npr.org] after the massive failure of Healthcare.gov.

But as the planning for Friday's meeting evolved, so did the tone. And in the 11th hour, companies fought to bring their lawyers, because it's clearly not just a technical conversation.

[EXTENDED COPY]

Earnest, the White House spokesman, likened terrorism online to child pornography. But tech experts counter that it's not a fair comparison. Child porn is mostly about images, typically ones in which a child is in a state of undress or duress. Terrorist content is far more complicated. It's not just beheading videos (which are of course removed by websites).

It can also be points of view or endorsements. If a person tweets in agreement with a sheikh who has called for violence but the tweet is not explicitly making such a call, should it be deleted or flagged? You can see where the lines get blurry on free speech.

Reports of the meeting with tech leaders leaked Thursday. While the timing may seem abrupt, the meeting was the follow up to one speech by President Obama, and the prelude to another.

In early December, in response to the San Bernardino killings, Obama urged the tech sector to step up, "make it harder for terrorists to use technology to escape from justice [whitehouse.gov]." And of course next Tuesday, he delivers his final State of the Union address.

This isn't the first such meeting [soylentnews.org] between "tech leaders" and the White House, although recent terrorist attacks have lit a rising fire under law enforcement officials while deflating post-Snowden progress. The lying officials mentioned in the headline are (at least) James Clapper [theintercept.com], and of course, James Comey [theintercept.com] (more [theintercept.com] and more [theintercept.com]).

The Intercept has excerpts of the briefing [theintercept.com] distributed to participants. Also at Reuters [reuters.com] and The Register [theregister.co.uk].

Previously: FBI Official: "Build Technological Solutions to Prevent Encryption Above All Else" [soylentnews.org]
Crypto Wars Continue [soylentnews.org]
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt Asks for "Spell-Checker" for Hate and Harassment [soylentnews.org]
Trump Advocates Closing Parts of the Internet; Obama and Clinton Renew War on Encryption [soylentnews.org]
The Crypto Warrior--Why Politicians Want a 'Back Door' into Your Devices—and Why it Will Never Work [soylentnews.org]

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