UK and US demands to access encrypted data are "unprincipled and unworkable"http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/07/uk-and-us-demands-to-access-encrypted-data-are-unprincipled-and-unworkable<< Demands by US and British security agencies for access to encrypted communication data have been dealt a serious blow in a report by an influential group of cryptographers and computer scientists who dismiss the move as unprincipled and unworkable. They warn that such access "will open doors through which criminals and malicious nation states can attack the very individuals law enforcement seeks to defend".
The report says: "The costs would be substantial, the damage to innovation severe and the consequences for economic growth hard to predict. The costs to our moral authority would also be considerable."
The expert opinion comes on the eve of an appearance before the US Senate intelligence committee by the FBI director, James Comey, who last year savaged tech companies for embracing end-to-end encryption, claiming it would deprive the security services of potentially life-saving information.
David Cameron and the UK home secretary, Theresa May, are proposing to introduce legislation in the autumn to force companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft to provide access to encrypted data. The proposed legislation has been requested by the intelligence agencies, which say encryption has made their job much more difficult. >>
