Obama Says He's 'A Strong Believer In Strong Encryption'

An anonymous reader writes: U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Re/code recently on a variety of topics relating to technology. The talk included the president's thoughts on encryption, which has been a controversial subject in tech circles lately after government officials (including Obama himself) have publicly complained about default encryption in modern communication tools. In the interview, he says he's a "strong believer in strong encryption," adding, "I lean probably further on side of strong encryption than some in law enforcement." Obama puts it another way, more bluntly: "There's no scenario in which we don't want really strong encryption." However, the president says the public itself is driving concern for leaving law enforcement a way in: "The first time that an attack takes place in which it turns out that we had a lead and we couldn't follow up on it, the public's going to demand answers."

Comments

Re:Huh?

[Immerman]

Honestly, I care not one whit about the persona failings of a politician, We're hiring them to do a job, not be a saint. Their failings are irrelevant except as they impact their ability to do the job. Clinton's womanizing for example was completely irrelevant, except that the Republicans decided to make a media circus out of it for their own gain. Shame on us for allowing that.