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NY Bill Would Force Decryption of Smartphones On Demand (onthewire.io)

Posted by samzenpus on from the let-me-see-your-phone dept.

Trailrunner7 sends word about New York Assemblyman Matthew Titone's bill that forbids the sale of smartphones that can't be cracked by their manufacturers. On the Wire reports: "A bill that is making its way through the New York state assembly would require that smartphone manufacturers build mechanisms into the devices that would allow the companies to decrypt or unlock them on demand from law enforcement. The New York bill is the latest entry in a long-running debate between privacy advocates and security experts on one side and law enforcement agencies and many politicians on the other. The revelations of the last few years about widespread government surveillance, especially that involving cell phones and email systems, has spurred device manufacturers to increase the use of encryption. New Apple iPhones now are encrypted by default, as are some Android devices. Apple, Google, and the other major manufacturers have said that user privacy and security is their main concern. The bill that is now in committee in the New York State Assembly makes no equivocation about what it is designed to do. 'Any smartphone that is manufactured on or after January First, Two Thousand Sixteen, and sold or leased in New York, shall be capable of being decrypted and unlocked by its manufacturer or its operating system provider,' the bill says."

4 of 353 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Brutus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    Democratic New York Assemblyman Matthew Titone's bill...

  2. The 5th amendment protects your keys by zerofoo · · Score: 3, Informative

    If your keys are between your ears, the 5th amendment protects you from "witnessing against yourself". You simply need to shut up and invoke the protections of the 5th amendment when asked for your encryption keys.

    1. Re:The 5th amendment protects your keys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Except that this bill is about requiring the manufacturers of smartphones and their operating systems provide a way to unlock them without the keys between your ears.

  3. Re:Just fight it by Hotawa+Hawk-eye · · Score: 3, Informative

    New York City is small enough and close enough to New Jersey that traveling to another state to buy a phone may be reasonable.

    New York state is a bit over 300 miles wide (estimated from Albany to Niagara Falls on a more or less straight route) and at its tallest about 330 miles tall (estimated from New York City to Champlain.) If you're in the center of the state (in the vicinity of Syracuse, roughly) I'd estimate you're looking at a two to three hour drive one way to get to Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or the Canadian border.

    Since this bill is in the state legislature, I'm not so sure I'd call a four or five hour round trip an easy way to skirt the law for Syracuse residents.