This is big! Reuters is reporting that the Burr/Feinstein anti-encryption bill in U.S. Congress is likely dead in this session! That means that, at least for this year, Congress has dropped legislation that would weaken our security. We’ve all been working hard on this one, and it’s a huge victory for every one of us!
For a long time, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice have persisted in seeking a dangerous “backdoor” into encrypted products and services. They want to be able to break our strongest security at will. But if the FBI can break our encryption, so can the bad guys. Weak encryption makes everyone less secure — including the government.
What does this mean?
It means more than Congress finally beginning to understand basic cybersecurity. It also means that we can start to move the conversation forward. For too long, we’ve been having the same debate over encryption. And while we repeat the same arguments in an endless loop, technology changes and government tactics evolve. Under the radar of public scrutiny, governments are using hacking to circumvent security practices. We need a public debate about the proper scope of these practices to protect our rights.
We’ll soon be releasing our reports from the Crypto Summit 2.0 , sharing ideas about how to make progress on these critically important issues. And you’ll be hearing more from me about government hacking and Rule 41 in the coming weeks.
If we keep working together, we might actually get Congress to break the stalemate on encryption and achieve better cybersecurity for all.