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New Jersey Congressman Seeks To Bar NSA Backdoors In Encryption

Posted by timothy on from the that'll-stop-'em-sir dept.

Frosty P writes "Congressman Rush D. Holt, a New Jersey Democrat, has proposed legislation (summary, full text) that would prohibit the agency from installing 'back doors' into encryption, the electronic scrambling that protects e-mail, online transactions and other communications. Representative Holt, a physicist, said Friday that he believed the NSA was overreaching and could hurt American interests, including the reputations of American companies whose products the agency may have altered or influenced. 'We pay them to spy,' Mr. Holt said. 'But if in the process they degrade the security of the encryption we all use, it's a net national disservice.'"

8 of 200 comments (clear)

  1. Pointless posturing by Scutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A law to stop the NSA? Yeah, that oughta do the trick. *rolls eyes*

    --

    "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
    1. Re:Pointless posturing by Scutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would like our current laws to be enforced. If the NSA is violating the law, those responsible should be prosecuted. If they aren't enforced, then there is literally no point in creating new laws.

      --

      "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
    2. Re:Pointless posturing by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would like our current laws to be enforced.

      As John Oliver said on the Daily Show when these stories started to break:

      "Mr. President, no one is saying you broke any laws, we're just saying it's a little bit weird you didn't have to."

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    3. Re:Pointless posturing by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Any law that the NSA violates puts them at risk in court, and this could be especially hazardous as political climates change.

      If the law isn't being enforced, that is the direct fault of the the President of the United States. He is in charge of enforcement, especially of executing laws related to national security. Don't weaken the law simply because the President fails to act.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    4. Re:Pointless posturing by istartedi · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I would like our current laws to be enforced

      And... Enforcement is the job of the Executive Branch, not Congress. Lots O' luck.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  2. Locks? by QuantumLeaper · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the NSA can get through a Backdoor, how do you know if a competitor or enemy is not getting in though the same backdoor?

  3. 100 points for effort by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    but if you're worrying about the reputation of US companies, you're too late.

    1. Re:100 points for effort by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yesterday's news marks the very first day for what will become a very bad time for American closed source security products. It would almost have been better for them if Snowden had been able to leak the actually collaborating and subverted companies names rather than just the generalization "all major ones" - because as it stands now, big or small, they are all equally guilty and will suffer the democratic process their customers voting with their feet/wallets abandoning their backdoored closed source products. They all gave guarantee's of being secure before and the PR departments are working overtime to try and maintain the illusion, but it is a hopeless battle now... trust once lost is veery hard to recuperate.

      but if you're worrying about the reputation of US companies, you're too late.

      Especially when there is an army of politicians - all ONE of them AFAIK - calling this out.