FBI Director James Comey on Thursday called on Congress to find “a regulatory or legislative solution” to expand the use of encryption technology to protect users’ privacy, arguing that if companies did not use such solutions, many “homicide cases could be stopped, suspects could not go free, and child abusers would not be able to hide.”
Comey said he understood the "justified surprise" many Americans felt after Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA, but argued that recent changes by companies like Apple and Google that make data stored on cellphones inaccessible to law enforcement are over the top.
The latest versions of Apple and Google's smartphone operating systems provide strong default encryption that cannot be broken even by the companies themselves – as long as user data is stored on the device, and not in the cloud. Let's remember that companies are legally covered, because even if asked by the authorities to hand over their user data that is on a device, they cannot do so. The encryption key in the new operating systems is stored only within each device, and not even the manufacturers themselves have it.
Law enforcement officials like Comey are concerned that certain types of data can be deleted, which would make it harder for investigators who need it to solve crimes. But many technology experts say that the default option of strong encryption is necessary to protect users from unwanted intrusions into their privacy by governments and hackers.
The FBI director did not propose any specific legislative solution, saying he simply hoped to start a dialogue on the issue. He said he wanted some way for manufacturers to provide law enforcement with access to their devices stemming from a court order.
“We are not pursuing a backdoor approach,” Comey said. “We want to use the front door, with clarity and transparency, and with the clear guidance provided by the law. We want to follow court decisions and legal processes.”
