FBI Director Calls for Decryption Tools To Combat "Going Dark," Bitcoin Users Affected
The matter of security, privacy and whether or not the government officials can breach either of those two basic rights, will continue for several years to come. However, if it were up to FBI director James Comey, governments should have the right to lawfully access any type of device, even if it’s encrypted by the user or manufacturer.
Also read: Gold-Backed Cryptocurrencies: Innovative or Redundant?
The So-called “Going Dark Problem”
Whenever government officials want to invade user privacy, they have to come up with clever new terminology. In this instance, the term “Going Dark” has been coined by FBI director James Comey, which refers to the fact how “keys necessary to decrypt communications and electronic devices often reside solely in the hands of the end user.”
“As a result, a proposal was pitched by the FBI director to force hardware manufacturers to “bake encryption backdoors” into all of their products. In doing so, manufacturers would allow lawful access by government officials, assuming they can provide a lawful court order that is.”
“We are not asking to expand the government’s surveillance authority, but rather we are asking to ensure that we can continue to obtain electronic information and evidence pursuant to the legal authority that Congress has provided to us to keep America safe. Mr. Chairman, the Department of Justice believes that the challenges posed by the Going Dark problem are grave, growing, and extremely complex.” – Joint Prepared Remarks PDF
It is important to keep in mind that, even though this joint prepared PDF has been made public, there are no congressional proposals to take things to the next level. As we have seen occur multiple times, these types of “guilt tactics” may force the hand of tech manufacturers in terms of compliance before making it a written law.
Privacy is a Basic Human Right & Should Not Be Invaded At Any Point
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