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Ron Wyden Introduces Bill To Ban FBI 'Backdoors' In Tech Products

Posted by Soulskill on from the stop-doing-the-thing-you-might-want-to-start-doing dept.

An anonymous reader sends this report from The Verge: Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) is trying to proactively block FBI head James Comey's request for new rules that make tapping into devices easier. The Secure Data Act would ban agencies from making manufacturers alter their products to allow easier surveillance or search, something Comey has said is necessary as encryption becomes more common and more sophisticated. "Strong encryption and sound computer security is the best way to keep Americans' data safe from hackers and foreign threats," said Wyden in a statement. "It is the best way to protect our constitutional rights at a time when a person's whole life can often be found on his or her smartphone."

3 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This is bothersome by Trepidity · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's true as far as the NSA goes, but this is about the FBI, which was set up from the beginning to spy on Americans.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  2. Why only FBI? by Trachman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    All of this would not be necessary, if existing laws would be enforced the way they were intended to. What is here not to understand " ... secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects".

    The moment you start slicing and dicing and qualifying, the next moment another interpretation will be drafted that allows to bypass any new law.

    The truth is people were spied all the times, but when it became easier to do so due to the technologies and the scale of spying became difficult to hide, then the new laws were carved out, "while the freedoms are protected".

    Key lesson: calling the the laws in a manner opposite to what it does.
        Patriot act is not patriotic.
        Affordable care is not affordable to most of the working people.
        FBI backdoor ban, will put more resources on another secret agency which is not banned.

    Why FBI, why DHS, why not all of them?

  3. Re:The killer bees are already out of the jar by timeOday · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The idea of encryption as a silver bullet is a myth. PGP accomplishes nothing on a compromised host (at either end), which is what this bill is about. (This on top of the fact that PGP accomplishes nothing on hosts on which it is not installed, which is to say, effectively all of them).