SAN FRANCISCO – Tech companies, along with security experts,
say President Obama should protect user data, putting them in direct
competition with the country’s top law enforcement officials that may want
access to that data.
Some of the technology industry’s largest companies have
applied pressure on President Obama over the issue of data encryption.
A total of 140 companies, including Apple and Google, joined
security experts and former government officials in co-signing a letter to the
White House, urging President Obama to scuttle any law or action by law
enforcement that would weaken data encryption. The letter, which was sent on
Tuesday to the White House, calls data encryption the “cornerstone of the modern
information economy’s security,” according to the Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the letter.
The letter is just the latest salvo in an ongoing battle
over data encryption. One side of the battle is made up of companies like Apple
and Google that encrypt data communications between users. The companies argue
that such data encryption is not only justified, but necessary. Law enforcement
officials, including FBI director James Comey, however, have said that data
encryption on applications like Apple’s iMessage instant-messaging software, provides
a gateway for criminals to communicate with each other without fear of law
enforcement oversight.
Apple’s iMessage has been of particular concern to Comey and
his cohorts. The instant messaging application allows iOS and OS X users to
text each other messages. Apple has encrypted those communications from one end
to another and only the user holds the key that would decrypt those messages.
That creates a scenario in which the US government could technically obtain a
warrant for a user’s data, but would be unable to access that data, since Apple
has no way of retrieving it.
data-encryption is running on Google’s Android, the world’s most popular
mobile operating system. Together, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android owned96 percent of the worldwide smartphone market in 2014, representing more than
1.2 billion devices.
That scale has prompted Comey to speak often and loudly
about his concerns with data encryption. In a talk in October, Comey said that
may be denied” because of strong encryption. He added that while he’s
not seeking a backdoor to easily access servers and obtain messages, he would
like “to use the front door, with clarity and transparency, and with clear
guidance provided by the law.”
Comey has bolstered his argument by pointing to the US
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994. That law mandates
that telephone companies build wiretapping backdoors into their equipment for
officials to listen in on suspected criminals. No such law mandates a similar
backdoor for mobile devices.
Comey’s statement was echoed by US Deputy Assistant General
David Bitkower in March who said that data encryption that doesn’t allow for
law enforcement access gives a criminal or terrorist the opportunity to act at
their will without fear of any prying eyes, effectively putting the US in
danger. Giving law enforcement access to suspected criminal information,
Bitkower said, is the “standard American principle for the last couple of
hundred years.”
The debate over data encryption and privacy is even more
concerning in light of the Edward Snowden leaks. The former NSA contractor, who
is currently living in Russia and away from US law enforcement, revealed
several US government surveillance programs, including the National Security
Agency’s PRISM program. Those programs have been heavily criticized by people
around the globe for scraping any and all data that hits foreign servers and
allows the US government to access any communication it desires. The leaks,
which have been ongoing since 2013, have shined a bright light on US government
activities and data privacy. They’ve also provided ample fodder for technology
companies like Google and Apple to justify their data-protection efforts.
In an interview in September with Charlie Rose, Apple
CEO Tim Cook chimed in on his company’s policy on data privacy. He said
that Apple’s “business is not based on having information about you,”
adding that the iPhone maker is “not reading your email. We’re not reading
your iMessage.”
“If the government laid a subpoena on us to get your
iMessage, we can’t provide it,” Cook confirmed. “It’s encrypted and
we don’t have the key.”
Cook also took a shot at the US government, saying that it
has “erred too much on the collect-everything side.”
Ultimately, whether the letter and overtures made within the
technology industry prove fruitful will depend on how President Obama decides
to respond. In an interview with the Washington Post, privacy expert Kevin
Bankston, who drafted the letter, said his goal is to put the issue back in
front of President Obama, who he says, “has been letting his top law
enforcement officials criticize companies for making their devices more
secure.”
Whether Bankston and his co-signers will find a sympathetic
recipient, however, remains to be seen. In an interview with Recode in
February, President Obama said that he’s a “strong believer in strong
encryption” and he’s sympathetic to companies “properly responding to
market demand.” Still, he sees the other side of the argument and isn’t so
sure either side is entirely correct.
“I lean probably further in the direction of strong
encryption than some do inside of law enforcement,” the President said. “But I am sympathetic to law enforcement because
I know the kind of pressure they’re under to keep us safe. And it’s not as
black-and-white as it’s sometimes portrayed. Now, in fairness, I think the
folks who are in favor of airtight encryption also want to be protected from
terrorists.”
Apple, Google, and the White House did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
