Apple and Google have co-signed a letter calling on President Obama to reject any government proposal to allow the government backdoor access to encrypted data on smartphones and other devices. The Washington Post says the letter, due to be delivered today, is signed by more than 140 tech companies, prominent technologists and civil society groups.
The signatories urge Obama to follow the group’s unanimous recommendation that the government should “fully support and not undermine efforts to create encryption standards” and not “in any way subvert, undermine, weaken or make vulnerable” commercial software.
Apple uses end-to-end encryption for iMessages, meaning that Apple has no way to access the data even if presented with a court order. Tim Cook stated last year “it’s encrypted, and we don’t have the key.”
The FBI has been pushing increasingly hard to require tech companies to build in backdoor access to their encryption systems to allow access by law enforcement, even going so far as to say that Apple could be responsible for the death of a child. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has also cited child safety as a justification for demanding access to encrypted data.
The letter calling on Obama to reject this argument is also signed by five members of a presidential review group appointed by Obama in 2013 to assess technology policies in the wake of leaks by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.
Many in the tech industry have pointed out that, aside from the obvious concerns over government intrusion into the private lives of its citizens, any backdoor used by the government could potentially be discovered and exploited by hackers and foreign governments.
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As much as I hope this helps – I’m afraid it won’t. All the Politicians are screaming that everyone from the NSA down to the local LEOs need to spy on our communications. Everything from terrorists to serial rapists and child molesters will be using iPhones to conduct their nefarious actions – and this is not to minimize the evil that those criminals do, but, all the FUD that the politicians are spreading is just absurd.
Encryption or not – Evil Deeds will always be done by Evil People. Without encryption, they might have to resort to hidden codes or even – GASP – snail mail!
It’s just sad how the public has rolled over and exposed our bellies in the name of “Public Safety” and how many people believe what they are told, without thinking about what they are giving up.
What happens when other countries ban importation of the iPhone and other US-developed products because branches of the US government and military machine hold exclusive backdoor access to all the data stored on them?
Or will the access be granted to the governments of every territory where these devices are now sold? It’s impossible to have different “versions” of a platform for different regions if they’re to inter-operate, so essentially these folks in the US are asking for unfettered access to the devices and data of foreigners around the globe. This is political suicide.
I’m not sure if they still do this since they’re mostly android now as Symbian is long gone, but when Samsung was making Symbian phones, each ROM update that came out was in fact for a different region…it was something a lot of people complained about, because some regions got really badass navigation and other software for free baked into the ROM (I’m talking about $300 software packages here), and others were left out in the cold. Anyway they had a coding system that included the date, region, and version. So it’s not like this couldn’t be done and hasn’t been done before…
However, it’s not only a pain for them to do that but it was a huge pain for consumers as well, aside from the fact that we lost out on bundled apps, some versions of the phones only supported certain ROMs and were limited to a certain area when sold, causing a ton of confusion.
As for the rest of the world getting mad at USA and banning imports, etc.; that will never happen. The USA was caught spying (thanks to Mr. Snowden) on *numerous* first world countries – this wasn’t insinuation or allegations, they had PROOF it was being done without their knowledge; and there were zero serious consequences.
I realize that Apple and Google are publicly traded companies but they aren’t government held. If the board of directors and shareholders voted against it can’t they just refuse to comply? They own the code and IP related to the operating system and devices. The agencies and government would be violating a few laws (not that they don’t do that already).
They can’t refuse if the government makes it a legal requirement.
They sure can. It’s called civil disobedience.
Seriously? Dude, when it’s the law of the land and the government has tanks and drones and guys with serious badass weaponry and prisons that are basically torture chambers, along with a corrupt judicial system — you do what you’re told.
I can see that you’ve drunk deeply of the Washington Kool Aid!
Bill of Rights – Ever hear of it or, better yet, Read It. We are a land “Of The People, By The People, For The People” – not for the liars, cheats and thieves that currently govern the country.