Bitcoin Forum

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- A draft version of a Senate bill would effectively prohibit unbreakable encryption and require companies to help the government access data on a computer or mobile device with a warrant.

The draft is being finalized by the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and the top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California.

Their goal, they said in a statement, is to ensure adherence to any court order that requires helping law enforcement or providing decrypted information. "No individual or company is above the law."

It was not immediately clear when they would introduce the bill.

The draft language ran into opposition from another committee member, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who said the proposal would require "American companies to build a backdoor" into devices.

"They would be required by federal law per this statute to decide how to weaken their products to make Americans less safe," he said. Wyden pledged to do "everything in my power" to prevent the plan from passing.

The emerging measure follows the Justice Department's battle with Apple Inc. over access to an encrypted and locked iPhone - a fight pitting digital privacy rights against national security concerns.

The Justice Department dropped its legal effort to compel Apple to provide it with specialized software that would allow the FBI to hack into an iPhone that was issued to San Bernardino County, California, health inspector Syed Farook. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people in December. The couple died in a shootout with authorities.

The iPhone was found in a vehicle the day after the shooting. Two personal phones were found destroyed so completely the FBI could not recover information from them.

U.S. Magistrate Sheri Pym had ordered Apple to provide the FBI with software to help it hack into Farook's work-issued iPhone after the government said only Apple could help authorities access the encrypted and locked iPhone. But days before a hearing in the case an outside party showed the FBI an ultimately workable situation to hack the phone.

The government ultimately purchased that solution - which FBI Director James Comey said only works on an iPhone 5C running version 9 of the Apple operating system - and is keeping it secret for now.

Comey and Apple CEO Tim Cook have said that Congress, not the courts, should address issues raised in the case.

But the senators' draft bill was roundly criticized by technology groups and civil libertarians, many of who also backed Apple against the government.

Kevin Bankston, director of the Washington-based New America's Open Technology Institute, said in a statement that the bill would undermine American cybersecurity and technology products, give foreign competitors an economic edge and allow adversaries to obtain encrypted communications.

ACLU legislative counsel Neema Singh Guliani said the draft plan amounted to a "clear threat to everyone's privacy and security" and senators should "abandon their efforts to create a government backdoor."



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_ENCRYPTION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-04-08-14-11-09

If this is passed you can kiss what is left of the tech industry and the economy in the USA goodbye.

I  dont think it will be passed. It will stop the growth of the technology and the
new invention associated with it.

Never underestimate the destructiveness of the state. I am sure they said the same thing in India before similar legislation was passed, and their economy has a large basis in the IT industry as well.

Sounds like a nice way to lose technological inventions to the chinese government... but the best thing is... the NSA can watch it happen live... ::)

Something like this could really hurt cryptocurrency... who's going to want to invest knowing that they won't be able to encrypt their wallet in a way that nobody but them can access?  Privacy should be a basic right, not something we have to fight for...

Big words and it is a losing fight. Unfortunately. The pirate parties might be the party that is spread over the world the most and in elections people don't really care much about privacy. Well, governments only have to sell them it the right way... and they do successfully.

So now we not only have to encrypt everything, but we have to make it look like it is not encrypted, as well.

8)

"I tried and tried to decrypt your message. But it just wouldn't take."    ???

"I didn't encrypt that message."    ::)

https://www.blackhat.com/docs/asia-14/materials/Trachtenberg/WP-Asia-14-Trachtenberg-Say-It-Ain't-So-An-Implementation-Of-Deniable-Encryption.pdf

Encryption is necessary and controlling it is going to end freedom of any expression.
As we head more into a tech age we will need to be able to lock our doors and encryption is going to be the only way to do such a thing on the net. So they are pretty much asking us to leave our doors open and walk around naked.

Nothing is going to happen. Most of these companies will simply move to saner regions such as Switzerland, where the government respects people's privacy. The remaining will close down, as they will lose their customer base. It it not going to make much of a difference. Earlier you were using services from a US-based company. From now onward, those services will be provided by a Switzerland-based company.

I agree, a product with purposed hacks built into it is just a backdoor that is waiting to be publically exploited for commerical gain.
Either that or they move to Canada if they want access to the US market or Europe for HQ.

This 100%, I would never buy a single thing created in that oppressive land.

For stuff like this to pass all they need is a good terror story that would spread through Europe and North America.
Once that is achieved other Countries would follow suit wanting to continue doing business. Companies can run but really where will they go where they will not lose in one aspect or another. The Countries most likely not requiring this will be Countries that will just take the companies out from under them.
Canada as mentioned will fold under any serious pressure from the bigger brother below them.

It's even worse in the US. Companies can be threatened to help the police and such and are forced to not reveal anything. Otherwise they are sued and company will die. Only some owners will decide to close their company like that guy with that anonymous remailer or was it was. Most will fear losing their million dollar business.

So you will not know if such thing will happen. That's why I would not trust a software the US government has control about indirectly.

Maybe this will push everything to be open sourced? I know. Impossible dream.