“U.S. Senator Ron Wyden pledged on Wednesday to fight legislation expected shortly in Congress that would limit encryption protection in American technology products,” Joseph Menn reports for Reuters.
“The proposal by Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, would give federal judges authority to order technology companies to help law enforcement officials access encrypted data, according to sources familiar with the situation,” Menn reports. “‘I believe weakening strong encryption puts at risk millions of Americans, families and communities from one end of the country to another,’ Wyden told Reuters after his speech at the RightsCon digital rights conference in San Francisco. ‘This issue is as important as any that I’ve been involved in in my 15 years in the intelligence committee.'”
Menn reports, “Asked if he would put a hold on the expected legislation, the Oregon Democrat, who is a leading privacy advocate, said: ‘I would do anything within my power as a United States senator to block any plan that weakens strong encryption.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is a true patriot.
Encryption is a binary issue. It’s either on or off. There is no middle ground. There is no magical “access” for just the “good guys.”
Support smart senators like Ron Wyden. Oppose ill-informed senators like Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein who seem to live in some fantasyland that does not exist.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin
It is a binary issue. That is why I thought that Apple made a mistake saying that Congress should resolve it. Congress can only muck it up. They will feel compelled to create exceptions, conditions, etc. Even one exception will swallow the rule and encryption will be gone. The only real hope is that the courts will hold that 4th Amendment privacy does not admit of exceptions. I am not too optimistic about that outcome, either.
Delusional or not, Apple is advocating for the proper procedure for altering the law. The FBI was demanding that they break the law. They thought they could con-job the courts into agreeing with their unconstitutional plan. Thankfully, they FAILed, big time.
And of course, the US Congress could screw this all up. Witness the abomination foolishly called ‘The Patriot Act’. Oops. That turned into a grand catastrophe of unconstitutional government actions. 😛
Professor Susan Crawford decimated this whole hack iOS argument the FBI/ DoJ was pushing.
“…when it comes to the specific battle going on right now between Apple and the FBI, the law is clear: twenty years ago, Congress passed a statute, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) that does not allow the government to tell manufacturers how to design or configure a phone or software used by that phone — including security software used by that phone.
CALEA was the subject of intense negotiation — a deal, in other words. The government won an extensive, specific list of wiretapping assistance requirements in connection with digital communications. But in exchange, in Section 1002 of that act, the Feds gave up authority to “require any specific design of equipment, facilities, services, features or system configurations” from any phone manufacturer. The government can’t require companies that build phones to come to it for clearance in advance of launching a new device. Nor can the authorities ask a manufacturer to design something new — like a back door — once that device is out.”
https://backchannel.com/the-law-is-clear-the-fbi-cannot-make-apple-rewrite-its-os-9ae60c3bbc7b
This is an attempt to change that legal construct.
Yup. I read Harvard professor Crawford’s article when it was released. It defined the CALEA legal argument. Thanks for sharing the link.
Unfortunately having an existing law does not preclude amendment of nor abolishing that law nor the creation of a new law to supersede it.
I bet Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein would scream rather loudly if Russia or China or even France or Italy were to pass similar legislation requiring Apple to help their government crack encryption on U.S. citizens’ phones when those U.S. citizens are in those countries. (U.S. citizen “suspected” of doing something those countries don’t like? We’ll just pass a law requiring Apple to crack those phones any time we want or else Apple can’t sell phones in our country.)
This legislation is the same idea. Someone needs to very loudly point this out to these people!
“Privacy means people know what they’re signing up for in plain english and repeatedly, that’s what it means. I am an optimist I believe people are smart and some people want to share more data than other people do, ask them, ask them every time, make them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of you asking them. Let them know precisely what you’re going to do with their data, that’s what we think.”
“Steve Jobs Bio: The Unauthorized Autobiography.”
https://itun.es/nl/qB1h3.l
Hey Dude… I’ve read the book and that piece is actually in reference to other companies in Silicon Valley and not the government…. Just sayin’
Ben Franklin wasn’t talking about the FBI or iPhones, but his reasoning still applies to this.
They can ask companies to help them crack encryption all day long, for all I care. The math won’t yield to good or bad intentions.
Time to vote this guy out of office.
Think you misuderstood his position…
(o_0) Senator Wyden? No.
Senators Feinstein and Burr? Yes.
Widen will never get voted out of office. He is a Democrat in Oregon–a place were Republicans don’t exist. In fact, when the pioneers came down the Oregon Trail, all the Republicans stopped at the Snake River and stayed in Idaho. Only the Democrats crossed and entered Oregon.
Government doesn’t need Apple, they’ve got Cellebrite.
Just another TOOL.
The US congressional bill being snaked around by Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein is going to be an abomination on a number of levels. Keep a close eye out for it as it is well worth the ire of We The People.
And thank you Senator Wyden!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Wyden
(I personally consider Senator Diane Feinstein to either be nuts, deluded, or sold out. Please boot her out California! Meanwhile, Senator Richard Burr is from North Carolina. Enough said).
DiFi is a grifter and has been scamming the taxpayers for quite some time. Her developer husband has been making bank on former US Post Offices owned by the US government that are prime real estate. She is pushing them to be closed and he is buying them and flipping them for huge profit.
California needs a better Senator.
*shiver* She’s one of the great reasons I don’t trust Democrats, along side Republicans. Both parties are full of scum I enjoy seeing flushed to where they belong.
I find it outrageous that my Democrat Senator from Northern California would cosponsor a bill to oversee Apple’s device and software development. Government has no business telling any company how to innovate.😱😖😡