[liberationtech] Graham-Blumenthal Bill: New Path for DOJ to Finally Break Encryption

[Yosem Companys]

Members of Congress are about to introduce a bill that will undermine the law
that undergirds free speech on the Internet. If passed, the bill known as the
Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT)
Act, will fulfill a long-standing dream of U.S. law enforcement. If passed, it
could largely mark the end of private, encrypted messaging on the Internet.

The Department of Justice and the FBI have long seen encryption as a threat. In
1993, the Clinton administration promoted the installation of a “Clipper Chip”
in consumer devices that would allow for easy government eavesdropping using key
escrow. When researchers repeatedly demonstrated that this flawed idea would
compromise privacy and security for everyone, not just criminals, the idea was
scrapped. But U.S. law enforcement agencies spent the next 25 years villainizing
the widespread adoption of encryption and highlighting a series of awful
criminal acts in their efforts to scare elected officials into requiring
backdoors.

In recent years, they’ve used acts of terrorism like the mass shootings in San
Bernardino and Pensacola to press for draconian changes to the law. More
recently, officials like Attorney General William Barr have blamed encryption
for sexual crimes against children. Not only are these crimes horrific to hear
about, but they are nearly impossible to get objective information about. Nearly
all information that the public gets about these crimes is filtered through law
enforcement and organizations that work closely with law enforcement. Because of
that, it’s very hard for policymakers to make informed decisions that address
both public safety and civil liberties concerns.

Meanwhile, we face immense challenges to building secure systems, and strong
encryption is one the best tools we have available to protect ourselves.
Encryption preserves the ability to have private, secure communications in an
increasingly insecure world. Members of the government, the military and law
enforcement themselves use encryption to protect their communications, as do
journalists, activists and those at risk of domestic abuse, among many others.
We should not sacrifice the power of these fundamental technologies, even in the
name of important law enforcement goals.

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https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/graham-blumenthal-
bill-new-path-doj-finally-break-encryption
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