海角大神

FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday criticized tech giants including Apple and Google for opposing so-called 鈥渂ack doors鈥� in security software for government agencies to access encrypted phones, computers, and other devices.

The tech companies along with academic experts and advocacy groups聽wrote a letter to President Obama聽on Tuesday opposing statements by administration officials who have come out strongly against more robust encryption on consumer products.聽In fact, some officials have advocated that tech companies stop聽selling encrypted products altogether unless the government has a way to decrypt the data.聽

The letter makes the case that weakening products鈥� security would only make them more vulnerable to聽"innumerable criminal and national security threats."

But Mr. Comey, addressing the Cybersecurity Law Institute at Georgetown University, said the FBI faces increasing difficulty in unlocking encrypted devices 鈥� and those who signed the letter were either not being fair-minded or were聽failing to see聽the societal costs to universal strong encryption.聽

鈥淓ither one of those things is depressing to me,鈥� he said.

Citizens鈥� privacy interests and public safety are coming closer to 鈥渁 full-on collision,鈥� he said.聽Acknowledging 鈥渢remendous societal benefits鈥� to encryption, Comey said the inability of law enforcement officials to gain access to encrypted devices when they have probable cause and strong oversight threatens public safety.

鈥淎s all of our lives become digital, the logic of encryption is all of our lives will be covered by strong encryption,鈥� he said. 鈥淭herefore all of our lives 鈥� including the lives of criminals and terrorists and spies will be in a place that is utterly unavailable to court-ordered process. And that to a democracy should be utterly concerning.鈥�

However, tech companies and encryption advocates argue in the letter that creating back doors would also pose an economic threat to the companies, especially in light of the Edward Snowden leaks.

鈥淯S companies are already struggling to maintain international trust in the wake of revelations about the National Security Agency鈥檚 surveillance programs. Introducing mandatory vulnerabilities into American products would further push many customers 鈥� be they domestic or international, individual or institutional 鈥� to turn away from those compromised products and services,鈥� the letter said.

What's more, critics 鈥� including many lawmakers 鈥� who oppose efforts to weaken encryption聽say that creating a system in which government agencies have access to secure data would also create vulnerabilities exploitable by criminal聽hackers and other governments.

Comey acknowledged the business pressures and competitive issues involved, but urged tech companies to find a safe way to cooperate with government needs to access information.

鈥淪mart people, reasonable people will disagree mightily, technical people will say it鈥檚 too hard,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y reaction to that is, 鈥楻eally? Too hard? Too hard for the people that we have in this country to figure something out?鈥� I鈥檓 not that pessimistic.鈥�