{"id":770,"date":"2016-01-29T01:13:42","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T01:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/?p=770"},"modified":"2024-12-23T08:01:22","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T08:01:22","slug":"top-senator-encryption-bill-may-do-more-harm-than-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/top-senator-encryption-bill-may-do-more-harm-than-good-770\/","title":{"rendered":"Top senator: Encryption bill may “do more harm than good”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Top<\/a><\/p>\n

Legislating encryption standards might \u201cdo more harm than good\u201d in the fight against terrorism, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., lawmakers have been debating whether to move a bill that would force U.S. companies to decrypt data for law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it really going to solve any problems if we force our companies to do something here in the U.S.?\u201d Johnson asked at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. \u201cIt\u2019s just going to move offshore. Determined actors, terrorists, are still going to be able to find a service provider that will be able to encrypt accounts.\u201d
\nInvestigators have said the Paris attackers used encrypted apps to communicate. It\u2019s part of a growing trend, law enforcement says, in which criminals and terrorists are using encryption to hide from authorities.<\/p>\n

For many, the solution has been to require that tech companies maintain the ability to decrypt data when compelled by a court order. Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are currently working on such a bill.<\/p>\n

But the tech community and privacy advocates have pushed back. They warn that any type of guaranteed access to encrypted data puts all secure information at risk. Keeping a key around to unlock encryption means that anyone, they argue, including hackers can use that key.<\/p>\n

Johnson said he understands the importance of strong encryption.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s face it, encryption helps protect personal information,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s crucial to that. I like the fact that if somebody gets my iPhone, they\u2019re going to have a hard time getting into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capitol Hill faces a learning curve on the issue, Johnson explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is not understanding the complexity,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not being critical here. It\u2019s really complex, which is the biggest problem you have in terms of cyber warfare [and] cyberattacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experts, the attackers are multiple steps ahead of the good guys trying to reel them in, trying to find them,\u201d Johnson added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legislating encryption standards might \u201cdo more harm than good\u201d in the fight against terrorism, Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on Thursday. In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., lawmakers have been debating whether to move a bill that would force U.S. companies to decrypt data … Continue reading Top senator: Encryption bill may “do more harm than good”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[52,319,318,104],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-encryption","tag-personal-information","tag-terrorism","tag-u-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":772,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions\/772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dogoodsoft.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}