Digital Smarts - Calls Grow For More Government Access to Encrypted Messages
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Silicon Valley is taking some heat after the terror attacks in Paris and Beirut. Many technology companies explicitly expressed opposition to creating government "back doors" to the encryption that protects the systems and apps on smart phones. Regulators and law enforcement have long been pushing for power to monitor communications systems to expose potential threats to national security, and the recent events have many speaking on the topic. Tim Cook of Apple commented "If you leave a back door in the software, there is no such thing as a back door for good guys only.” On the opposite side, former assistant secretary of homeland security Robert Liscouski says that while some may call the regulations on “back doors” invasive, “we need to have more ubiquitous surveillance capabilities to detect these types of attacks."