The tech world’s recent efforts to strengthen encryption appear to have left the FBI in a panic, as FBI Director James Comey appeals to Congress for easier backdoor access to Americans’ data.
Comey has complained that new encryption technology will hamper law enforcement. He wants Congress to update the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which originally mandated that telephone companies must permit the government to tap phone lines.
Since phone technology has evolved significantly since the 1994 law, many modern forms of communication escape the law.
“Encryption threatens to lead us all to a very, very dark place,” Comey insisted at a recent speech at the Brookings Institution.
A number of lawmakers have already suggested they will resist the FBI in this latest privacy battle, with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) telling The Hill “I’d be surprised if more than a handful of members would support the idea of backdooring Americans’ personal property.”
In response to Edward Snowden’s revelations about National Security Agency spying, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) sponsored a bill earlier this year that prohibited backdoor spying on Americans. The bill easily passed the House.
Comey is trying to paint his request as “front door” rather than “back door” spying, although the phrases are ultimately semantics to most privacy advocates.
Comey has also failed to explain how companies could provide this ease of access for the government without simultaneously making it easier for hackers to break into users’ data, as well. “I’m not smart enough technically to figure out how that might work,” Comey said.
Privacy advocates, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have belittled the idea that such technology exists: “Simply put, there is no such thing as a key that only law enforcement can use — any key creates a new backdoor that becomes a target for criminals, industrial spies, or foreign adversaries.”
During the same speech at Brookings during which he pleaded for more access, Comey also admitted that he had previously misrepresented FBI protocol—they do spy on American citizens without a warrant under some circumstances, a statement he had flatly denied just days earlier.
Comey suggested that this misunderstanding was due to sloppy speech on his part. But with increasing revelations about the already expansive scope of government spying on American citizens, Comey will have a tough time convincing lawmakers and tech companies that his agency needs their help.
