Apple's battle with the FBI has focused the attention of the technology community on encryption. But while just about all of the big players in the tech world backed Apple's refusal to create a backdoor for the FBI into iOS, Congress has a very different idea about how encryption and governmental access to data should be handled. This is perfectlt demonstrated by a new bill.
The draft version of the Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016 -- penned by Senators Diane Feinstein and Richard Burr -- would essentially force all US companies to decrypt data they may have encrypted, or to provide backdoors when asked. It's a bill described variously as 'dangerous', 'encryption-weakening', and 'anti-security', and it starts off aggressivley in stating that "no person or entity is above the law". In effect, it renders the encryption put in place by the likes of WhatsApp completely pointless as, if the bill is passed, companies would have to decrypt data on demand.
Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy and Technology says that "it's effectively the most anti-crypto bill of all anti-crypto bills" and this it "basically outlaws end-to-end encryption". What is particularly concerning about the bull is that it would force companies to comply with data requests from any court in the country. The draft says:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as provided in paragraph (2) a covered entity that receives a court order from a government for information or data shall --
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