Senators Richard Burr [R-NC] and Dianne Feinstein [D-CA] finally introduced their long-rumored anti-crypto bill, which will ban US companies from making products with working cryptography, mandating that US-made products have some way to decrypt information without the user's permission.
There is widespread (that is, virtually universal) consensus among cryptographers that there is no way to make cryptography that works all the time, except when there is a warrant for the content it scrambles, whereupon it catastrophically fails.
Senator Ron Wyden [D-OR], who is generally a hero (on every subject except TPP) has vowed to block this by filibustering it when it reaches the floor.
Bills mandating broken crypto are all the rage, from Canada's Bill C-51 to the UK's Snoopers Charter to Hungary's constitutional reforms.
The good news is that they're incredibly hard to pass. In California, Jim Cooper's [D-9] bill to ban effective cryptography in Silicon Valley's home turf was just resoundingly defeated.
Meanwhile, Senator Ron Wyden has renewed his opposition to the bill by going a step further and promising to filibuster if the bill is brought to the floor:
“The encryption debate is about having more security or having less security. This legislation would effectively outlaw Americans from protecting themselves. It would ban the strongest types of encryption and undermine the foundation of cybersecurity for millions of Americans. This flawed bill would leave Americans more vulnerable to stalkers, identity thieves, foreign hackers and criminals. And yet it will not make us safer from terrorists or other threats. Bad actors will continue to have access to encryption, from hundreds of sources overseas. Furthermore, this bill will empower repressive regimes to enact similar laws and crack down on persecuted minorities around the world,” Wyden said.
“Americans who value their security and liberty must join together to oppose this dangerous proposal. I intend to oppose this bill in committee and if it reaches the Senate floor, I will filibuster it.”
Burr & Feinstein Officially Release Anti-Encryption Bill, As Wyden Promises To Filibuster It
[Mike Masnick/Techdirt]
Victory: California Smartphone Anti-Encryption Bill Dies in Committee
[Rainey Reitman/EFF]
(Image: Senator Ron Wyden in B n' W., Sam Craig, CC-BY-SA)
