U.S. Senators Threaten Apple and Facebook With Encryption Regulation

[MacRumors]

Executives from Apple and Facebook were grilled over their encryption policies in a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, with senators threatening encryption regulation.

According to Reuters, senators told Apple and Facebook that the two companies need to find a way to make encrypted data available to law enforcement for investigations.

"You're going to find a way to do this or we're going to go do it for you," said Senator Lindsey Graham. "We're not going to live in a world where a bunch of child abusers have a safe haven to practice their craft. Period. End of discussion."

Facebook earlier this year said that it would extend end-to-end encryption across all of its messaging services and has since faced blowback from U.S., UK, and Australian government officials who have requested backdoor access.

Apple faced a major encryption battle with the United States government in 2016 when it refused to provide the government with the tools to unlock the iPhone owned by the San Bernadino shooter.

Apple at the time argued that adding backdoor access to the iPhone would weaken it for everyone and that criminals would quickly gain access to any backdoor tools that Apple established.

Facebook privacy chief Jay Sullivan was at the hearing with Apple privacy chief Erik Neuenschwander, and even amid scrutiny from regulators, the two companies were still at each other's throats, with Neuenschwander and Sullivan each suggesting lawmakers focus scrutiny on the other company's business.

Sullivan pointed out that Facebook does not build devices or operating systems, while Neuenschwander said that Apple doesn't have "forums for strangers to contact each other" and doesn't see Apple "scanning material of our users to build profiles of them."

Apple has been staunchly against creating backdoors for government access and has warned of the dangers of weakening encryption. Apple does cooperate with law enforcement by providing relevant iCloud data in law enforcement investigations when requested.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: U.S. Senators Threaten Apple and Facebook With Encryption Regulation

 

[mrxak]

No backdoors in encryption. Period. End of discussion.

 

[Freida]

This has to stay like that. No one wants to be spied on by the big brother. Its already enough that they control everything with their corrupt agendas. Have nothing to hide but feel the same way as Apple. Privacy is a human right.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Very difficult subject. Putting some examples into context (i.e. child abusers) does put the onus onto Apple to provide a means of decrypting content. I also didn't find TC's comments on "a backdoor being equivalent to cancer" as wholly believable, given that Apple has the means to create a one-time use box/software for that specific instance of decryption.

 

[Scottsoapbox]

How does one abuse a child with encryption?

We really need a basic competency test before someone can run for office.

 

[polaris20]

It's disappointing that government officials are so ignorant with technology that they think this is possible. Sure, maybe they can somehow bend Apple and FB to their will, but then someone else will come out with encryption apps that circumvent that anyway.

 

[xxray]

**** these senators. They are using excuses to find a way to increase government surveillance on innocent Americans. It makes no sense to invade the privacy of hundreds of millions of Americans just to maybe catch a small percentage of Americans that are criminals. Ever since 9/11, the US government has been using safety as an excuse to invade the privacy of Americans.

 

[Airforcekid]

This is why I use Signal for the most part. One day laws will change and all my iMessages will be out there. Not that they would be interesting but I like knowing zero records exist after a set amount of time I choose.

 

[Cosmosent]

In other words, our U.S. Govt representatives have NO clue about technology !

If there is a Backdoor, it will become exploited.

Why they don't know that is beyond reason.

 

[Plutonius]

Wouldn't backdoors open the devices to everyone ?

 

[Porco]

It’s mathematics. You can’t legislate away numbers.

If you outlaw encryption, only outlaws will have encryption.

 

[Hazmat401]

This is why the 1st and 2nd Amendment is so important!

 

[Sedulous]

I think not Lindsey. You try to pass some kind of backdoor legislation and it will die in Supreme Court and public opinion.

 

[Eduardo75890]

How does one abuse a child with encryption?

We really need a basic competency test before someone can run for office.

The way there saying child abuse is more like Pedophilic content that is stored on iPhone, Macs, etc in which is encrypted by Apple but of course for privacy reason but politicians have always wanted a backdoor into Apple devices so they typically say it's for the safety for the children which is understandable but could there be another way to don't risk the privacy of consumers and be able to unlock those that has such illegal content?

 

[TheRealTVGuy]

This isn't about child abusers, terrorists, or drug dealers, this is about more government oversight and control. Just like they do if you want to wire/move any substantial amount of money.

Anyone who thinks the government wants to "efficiently keep you safe" needs to look at the TSA, their security theatre and the pain-in-the-ass it is to fly commercial these days.

 

[Eduardo75890]

Wouldn't backdoors open the devices to everyone ?

Yup. Pretty much . The only way that I can see this make senators happy is that there could be a one time use bypass for devices but I'm 100% sure law enforcement agencies would try to find a way to make it unlimited

 

[iGeneo]

And I think we finally have a thread that everyone will agree on and not bash Apple and Tim Cook.

 

[Eduardo75890]

This isn't about child abusers, terrorists, or drug dealers, this is about more government oversight and control. Just like they do if you want to wire/move any substantial amount of money.

Anyone who thinks the government wants to "efficiently keep you safe" needs to look at the TSA, their security theatre and the pain-in-the-ass it is to fly commercial these days.

Agreed but if you think about it still a good reason though for "children" safety even though it will threaten are privacy if there was a way to have both things possible I 'm in ^^

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

Lindsay Graham, that screaming queen needs to come out of the closet pronto.

 

[triangletechie]

On a side note, I really hated that commercial with the fake hysterical laughing.

 

[mrxak]

It’s mathematics. You can’t legislate away numbers.

If you outlaw encryption, only outlaws will have encryption.

I find it very comforting that the physical and mathematical laws of the universe actually are capable of constraining government power. Governments everywhere now are running into math and physics and finding that their power is not unlimited.

 

[LV426]

Dear Lawmakers,

You can’t be entrusted to keep the keys to my backdoor. The NSA lost a whole suite of their hacking tools to the bad guys a few years ago. Result: hundreds of thousands of computers became infected with nasties, and many systems were badly compromised – including government ones.

 

[PastaPrimav]

No backdoors in encryption. Period. End of discussion.

That's certainly an easy position to take. Sounds woke. Requires no critical thought.

Much harder is to acknowledge that indeed powerful communication technology with total privacy and encryption is an extremely dangerous loophole that didn't exist before. We can't march blindly into this, distribute it everywhere, and pretend like there will be no consequences.

I don't quite know what the answer is. I do know government control is not the answer, so the private sector had better wake up and stop ignoring this problem.

 

[Solomani]

All of these Senators currently serving need to be thrown out and replaced in the upcoming 2020 Elections. Get rid of ALL of the stupid incumbents!

 

[MikhailT]

"Child abuse" is a cop-out the gov't have been using for decades to pass laws that removes rights away from its citizens. So the moment you hear this BS from any politician, just know it's a lie right off the bat.