The White House refused to rule out the possibility that the federal government will move to drill backdoors in new, encrypted communications technology, ahead of a meeting with a key foreign ally who’s vowing to do just that.
At Thursday’s White House press briefing, spokesman Josh Earnest took an aggressive posture toward tech companies like Apple and Facebook that offer encrypted communications services.
“None of these technology companies want to be in a position where they are aiding and abetting people who wants to use this technology to carry out an act of violence or carry out an act of terrorism,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that British Prime Minister David Cameron will urge President Obama to go on the offensive against tech companies offering encryption that puts consumers one step ahead of government surveillance efforts.
Cameron arrived at the White House Thursday to discuss security issues following the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris. He’s readying his government to take action against total encryption in the UK. But, given the global nature of online communications, those efforts won’t go far unless Americans’ privacy is compromised, too.
When asked directly if President Obama supports this initiative, Earnest deferred to rhetoric.
“It is imperative that we properly balance the need for government intelligence agencies and national security agencies to have access to certain kinds of information to try to protect their citizens,” while also respecting “the privacy of their citizens,” he said.
Pressed to be more specific, Earnest said he couldn’t elaborate any further. Since this was a topic he knew would be discussed between the two leaders, he also said he didn’t “want to be in a position to get ahead” of any announcements.
The administration has been quiet on the idea of encryption cracking, but its law enforcement and intelligence agencies are actively trying to undermine the technology.
Documents provided by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed efforts by the spy agency to deliberately weaken encryption standards.
Late last year, FBI Director James Comey gave a speech at the Brookings Institute, where he went on the attack against companies offering consumers added layers of security.
“Encryption threatens to lead us all to a very, very dark place,” he said. “The notion that the market place could create something that would prevent the closet from ever being open even with a properly obtained court order makes no sense to me.”
Security experts have long argued that any backdoor built into encryption for law enforcement can easily be exploited as a backdoor for hackers or cyber criminals. When asked by a moderator during his Brookings appearance what, exactly, a back door for the FBI looks like, Comey was lost.
“I don’t think I’m smart enough to give you a highly reliable answer there.”
