Following the fallout between Apple’s legal battle with the FBI, the US Senate is attempting to draft a new encryption bill.
Apple’s resistance to a recent court order, which would have compelled the company to decrypt data on the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, has set tongues wagging; no more so than in the US Senate, where Senate Intelligence Committee leaders are attempting to draft an encryption bill that would require tech companies to decrypt data when served with a legal order.
The bill, which specifies that technology companies would have to serve data in an “intelligible format” when compelled by a court, has largely been dubbed an ‘absurd’ and ‘technically inept’ move.
Read: WhatsApp activates end-to-end encryption
The Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016 – the official name of the encryption bill – sates that “no person or entity is above the law” and that providers of services, products, hardware and software must protect residents of the United States through the “implementation of appropriate data security.”
The bill reads: “To uphold both the rule of law and protect the interests and security of the United States, all persons receiving an authorized judicial order for information or data must provide, in a timely manner, responsive, intelligible information or data, or appropriate technical assistance to obtain such information.”
The working of the bill itself, which offers a clause that prevents it from authorising “any government officer to require or prohibit any specific design or operating system to be adopted by any covered entity,” makes full end-to-end encryption, as WhatsApp has recently introduced, impossible.
Security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski stated that “The absurdity of this bill is beyond words. Due to the technical ineptitude of its authors, combined with a hunger for unconstitutional governmental powers, the end result is a very dangerous document that will weaken the security of America’s technology infrastructure.”
“This will affect everything from the iPhone you hold in your pocket to how data is transmitted over the Internet, allowing the government to effectively break all electronic commerce and Internet security. This is bad legislation in every way, and it very subtly allows for unconstitutional government control of private industry,” Zdziarski concluded.
The bill is presently in a draft form, with the White House having not offered public support.
Read: FBI clarifies its crack only works on the iPhone 5C
What are your thoughts on the draft encryption bill? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!
Source: MacRumors
Follow Bryan Smith on Twitter: @bryansmithSA
