Obama
backs away from law to access encrypted information
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[October 12, 2015]
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama's
administration has backed away from seeking legislation that would give
U.S. law enforcement agencies access to individuals' encrypted messages,
the White House said on Saturday.
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"We are actively engaged with private companies to ensure they
understand the public safety and national security risks that result
from malicious actors’ use of their encrypted products and
services," said White House spokesman Mark Stroh. "However, the
administration is not seeking legislation at this time."
Stroh reiterated comments by Federal Bureau of Investigation
Director James Comey, who in testifying before a Senate committee on
Thursday said the administration would not seek a bill allowing it
to crack into encrypted information.
"Changing forms of Internet communication and the use of encryption
are posing real challenges to the FBI’s ability to fulfill its
public safety and national security missions," Comey warned.
The tech industry, through groups representing the likes of Apple
Inc <AAPL.O>, Google Inc <GOOGL.O>, Facebook Inc <FB.O>, IBM <IBM.N>
and Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O>, this year resisted any administration
moves to weaken increasingly sophisticated encryption systems
designed to protect consumers' privacy.
The decision to back away from a law that would have companies turn
over encrypted information to the federal government came from fears
that the information would then be vulnerable to hackers, the New
York Times reported on Saturday.
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Recently, hackers have breached federal computer systems for the
Office of Personnel Management and the Internal Revenue Service and
stolen personal data of federal employees and some U.S. taxpayers.
(Reporting by Lisa Lambert and Jeff Mason; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
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