Senators Propose a Cool New Contest To Destroy Your Online Privacy – By Scott Shackford (Reason) / June 24 2020
A new, terrible anti-encryption bill with a twist
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) and Tom Cotton (R–Ark.) have joined forces to sponsor encryption legislation that Attorney General William Barr supports, so it’s almost certainly a threat to Americans’ data privacy and security in the name of allegedly helping law enforcement fight terrorism, drug trafficking, and child porn.
On Tuesday, Graham, Cotton, and co-sponsor Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R–Tenn.) introduced the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act. The full text of the bill is not yet available, but a summary posted at the Senate’s Judiciary Committee (where Graham is the chairman) makes the bill’s goals clear: “The debate over encryption and lawful access has raged on, unresolved, for years. The Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act would bring an end to warrant-proof encryption in devices, platforms, and systems.”
They’re referring to end-to-end encryption, a tool for protecting data from hacking and outside access by making it very difficult, if not impossible, for anybody without permission to access the encrypted info. Even the company that created the communications device or app (like Apple or Facebook) cannot gain access to the data. That’s the point of this type of encryption.
Here are the components of the legislation listed in the summary:
Continue to article: https://reason.com/2020/06/24/senators-propose-a-cool-new-contest-to-destroy-your-online-privacy/
