Ride the Lightning

Tech Companies Ask Obama to Reject Policies to Weaken Encryption

May 27, 2015

The New York Times reported that such tech industry giants as Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft, along with civil liberties organizations and Internet security experts, sent a letter to President Obama  warning of the unintended consequences of any policy meant to weaken the encryption technologies that protect Internet communications. The White House has been considering whether to mandate that companies use only forms of encryption that provide law enforcement with the means for unscrambled access — a so-called back door.

The problem with back doors is that they tend to be exploited by everyone, including other governments and hackers.

Major tech companies have been moving to encrypt customers’ communications so that the government cannot monitor them without going directly to the customer. The companies’ efforts have been criticized by some in law enforcement who argue the toughened encryption will interfere with their investigations.

The White House is weighing a proposal in which parts of the key to unlock digital encryption would be held by the government, and part would be held by the companies. That system was articulated by Michael S. Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, in a recent speech at Princeton University. He called for a compromise in the form of “key escrow,” where the government would hold onto part of the encryption key and companies would hold onto the other, and it would be secured with “multiple locks — big locks.”

But technologists say such a solution simply does not work. The White House’s own handpicked National Security Agency review group members, several of whom signed the letter, also recommended that the government support efforts to advance strong encryption.

The letter was signed by more than 140 tech companies and dozens of civil liberty, human rights and press freedom groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Human Rights Watch and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. It was also signed by 60 security and policy experts.

A formidable group with a well-reasoned letter – I hope Mr. Obama is listening.

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