Privacy Advocates and Technologists Ask President Obama to Say No to Burr-Feinstein Anti-Encryption Legislation

Belmont, MA, April 14, 2016 --(PR.com)-- 100 days have passed since a pro-encryption petition at SaveCrypto.org surpassed 100,000 signatures. According to the White House’s own terms of participation, petitions that have collected over 100,000 signatures can expect a substantive response from the President within two months. Today, after waiting 167 days for President Obama’s reply, Restore the Fourth — along with 36 other academics, NGOs, and companies — sent a letter to the President “to respectfully request that the White House specifically oppose legislation to undermine security and reiterate the need for a broad statement of support for encryption from the administration.”

The Hill‘s recent publication of draft anti-encryption legislation written by Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) elevated existing concerns about the Administration’s delay in addressing the petition. The Burr-Feinstein bill would viscerally undermine privacy, security, and innovation by “forcing nearly all U.S. companies to decrypt any encrypted data they may handle.” As the letter explains:

Last week, the text of a draft bill written by Senators Burr and Feinstein was published…It is difficult to take this draft seriously. It has been broadly written to require that all internet companies, and in fact ‘any person who provides a product or method to facilitate a communication or the processing or storage of data,’ either undermine the security features they offer users or offer lesser security so as to facilitate government access. This definition includes institutions that many, including government agencies and representatives, rely upon to protect our most sensitive data.

It is beyond dispute that this bill would threaten the safety of billions of internet users, including journalists, activists, and ordinary people exercising their right to free expression, as well as critical infrastructure systems and government databases. However, it would likely to do very little to assist in investigations of crime or terrorism, since those who engage in illegal activities will have access to other means to protect their own devices and communications.

“We created We the People because we want to hear from you,” reads the introduction on the White House’s online petitioning platform. Restore the Fourth, our co-signatories, and tens of thousands of petitioners have spoken, and we would like to hear President Obama affirm his commitment to safeguarding American security and privacy by rejecting Burr and Feinstein’s dangerous proposal.

Signatories include: Access Now, Advocacy for Principled Action in Government, American Library Association, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Bill of Rights Defense Committee/Defending Dissent Foundation, British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Access and Privacy Association (CAPA), Canadian Institute of Access and Privacy Professionals (CIAPP), Center for Democracy and Technology, Center for Media Justice, Committee to Protect Journalists, Constitutional Alliance, CREDO, Demand Progress, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Engine, Fight for the Future, Free Press Action Fund, Hackers/Founders, IPVanish VPN, New America’s Open, Technology Institute, Niskanen Center, OpenMedia, PEN American Center, Privacy and Access Council of Canada – Conseil du Canada de l’Accès et la vie Privée (PACC-CCAP), La Quadrature du Net, Reinst8, Restore the Fourth, R Street Institute, Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), the Tor Project, Venture Politics, X-Lab, and Eric Burger; Georgetown University, Ian Goldberg; University of Waterloo, James O’Keefe, and John Wunderlich.