The weakening of encryption in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris simply “makes no sense”, say some of the largest technology companies around the world.
A statement on encryption was published by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) – a policy body representing the world’s tech giants.
Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Samsung, and many other computer industry businesses are all members of ITIC.
It is said that encryption helped maintain security every day.
ITIC is a global lobby and a political group that communicates the views of technology companies to politicians and legislative bodies.
The statement comes after many politicians criticized the data encryption systems that technology companies are increasingly strengthening for the hardware and services they provide.
They have called for the systems to be weakened to help police and intelligence agencies catch criminals or thwart potential terrorist attacks. Others want backdoors built into encryption software that would give law enforcement access to data that is normally locked away.
But, the weakening of encryption in an attempt to help the “good kids” was a mistake, ITIC said, as this way “real vulnerable points will be created that can be exploited by the bad guys”, it warned.
Such a move "will almost certainly cause serious physical and economic damage to our entire society and economy."
“The weakening of security, with the aim of promoting security simply has no meaning», ITIC said.
