“Sen. John McCain warned Google and Apple executives Thursday that the Senate Armed Services Committee ‘has subpoena power’ that could compel them to testify on why their encryption systems on newer smartphones are not accessible to law enforcement operating under court orders,” John Grady reports for USNI News.
“The Arizona Republican, who chairs the panel, said, “There’s an urgency” to finding a solution to the matter of protecting privacy while also not closing out police, prosecutors and intelligence agencies from lawfully pursuing criminals and terrorists,” Grady reports. “At the start of the hearing, McCain noted that Tim Cook, president of Apple, declined to attend the session. ‘This is unacceptable,’ he noted of Cook’s reluctance to appear, as the hearing neared its end.”
“McCain indicated at the hearing, the second on cyber encryption that he has called, he was leaning toward passing legislation rather than establishing a commission to study the issue,” Grady reports. “One proposal in the Senate is to have the commission make a recommendation back to Congress and the administration within a year or 18 months.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Encryption is either on or off. There is no middle ground. There are no back doors that are only for the “good guys.” If there’s no encryption present, good luck selling internationally.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Paul” for the heads up.]
