Data is in the news again and now it is in the middle of a tug-o-war. Wired brought this news to us in their article, “The Apple-FBI Battle Is Over, But the New Crypto Wars Have Just Begun.”
Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have been in a standoff for weeks over the request to access data in the San Bernardino shooting suspect’s iPhone. The FBI walked away from the battle by accessing the data without Apple’s help.
In the encryption debate, the stakes are real. More importantly, it is abundantly clear to everyone that their phones and other devices can provide tremendous privacy.
Other companies now see that it’s possible to stand up to the FBI, and in a terrorism case, no less. There was no public outcry to turn over the data. Public support was with Apple.
Washington is getting involved now. Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein have been drafting an encryption bill since December, but didn’t begin sharing a draft of the legislation until last week. The bill, which apparently would let federal judges order tech companies to provide encrypted data to law enforcement, has a long way to go before becoming law.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in taxonomies, metadata, and semantic enrichment to make your content findable.
