A bipartisan pair of House members introduced legislation on Wednesday that would prevent states from passing laws to weaken encryption.
The ENCRYPT Act, authored by Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, would prevent any state or locality from requiring any “manufacturer, developer, seller, or provider” to create a “backdoor” on encrypted products allowing officials to bypass that encryption.
The bill comes in response to proposals in the New York and California legislatures that would ban unbreakable encryption. Those proposals could have global implications if they were to pass, because they would require companies such as Apple and Facebook to revamp their practices to fit those states.
Toward the end of last year, several members of Congress expressed support for banning encryption, reasoning that it would prevent terrorists and criminals from being able to communicate privately.
However, that rhetoric has diminished over the past couple of months. National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers said in January that seeking to ban encryption in the United States was a “waste of time,” largely because it has become a global phenomenon.
Former NSA director retired Gen. Michael Hayden has taken a similar position, arguing that weakening encryption will benefit governments around the globe that are less benevolent. “On balance, I actually think it creates greater security for the American nation than the alternative,” Hayden said last year.
The tenor in Washington has taken a more nuanced tone since the beginning of the year. One popular congressional proposal would create a commission to study the “going dark” phenomenon, or the larger issue of malefactors being able to take their activity underground.
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Though there have been several proposals to weaken encryption, the proposal by Lieu and Farenthold is the first to suggest Congress should affirm encryption is here to stay.
