Collaborate Disseminate
Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee remain unconvinced that existing reforms are sufficient to address abuse of surveillance authorities.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider legislation Thursday that privacy advocates are warning could pose a major threat to encrypted technologies. “Everyone who communicates with others on the internet should be able to do so privately,” a diverse group of civil society groups wrote in a letter Wednesday to the committee’s leaders. “But by opening the door to sweeping liability under state laws, the EARN IT Act would strongly disincentivize providers from providing strong encryption.” The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (EARN IT Act), introduced for the first time in 2020 by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., would remove legal liability immunity from tech platforms found in violation of federal or state laws regarding child sexual abuse materials (CSAM). The pair reintroduced the bill last month and it drew immediate criticism from privacy and civil liberties advocates who say the bill could jeopardize […]
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A bill designed to break up America’s largest tech companies could come with an inadvertent side effect, its critics are arguing: weakening Americans’ privacy and data security. Detractors of the “American Innovation and Choice Online Act,” including Apple and Google, are campaigning against the legislation, contending that it would limit how companies are able to protect users’ privacy and security. “These bills may compel us to share the sensitive data you store with us with unknown companies in ways that could compromise your privacy,” Google’s president of global affairs Kent Walker wrote in a blog post Tuesday. Allowing users to download apps straight from the internet means “millions of Americans will likely suffer malware attacks on their phones that would otherwise have been stopped,” Apple’s senior director of government affairs Timothy Powderly wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The critiques are just a small part of the storm […]
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The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday unanimously advanced a bill that would combat child pornography, but which technologists say risks weakening encryption for average internet users by exposing tech companies to lawsuits. The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act (EARN IT Act) would remove liability protections for companies like Facebook when users share child pornography on their platforms. The bill is the latest front in a long-running struggle between lawmakers who see end-to-end encryption as shielding criminality, and civil liberties advocates and technologists who say weakening encryption could make swaths of the internet less secure. Lawmakers responded to criticism of earlier versions of the bill by making the standards that tech companies have to meet to receive liability protection voluntary. The bill also now states that tech providers won’t be targeted under federal law simply for providing encryption technology, thanks to an amendment from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. […]
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Facebook is not giving in to Department of Justice demands on weakening encryption, according to a new letter the company sent to U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf on Monday. “Cybersecurity experts have repeatedly proven that when you weaken any part of an encrypted system, you weaken it for everyone, everywhere,” Will Cathcart, vice president and head of WhatsApp, and Stan Chudnovsky, vice president and head of Facebook Messenger, wrote in the letter, which CyberScoop acquired. “The ‘backdoor’ access you are demanding for law enforcement would be a gift to criminals, hackers and repressive regimes, creating a way for them to enter our systems and leaving every person on our platforms more vulnerable to real-life harm.” The letter comes as tech companies, privacy experts, lawmakers and government agencies continue to debate how law enforcement can track criminals when they are “going dark” by using encrypted commercially available […]
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Data security advocates are taking action against a popular digital advertising technique that sends individuals’ information to perhaps hundreds of companies in less than a second, often without adequate protective measures. Real-time bidding is the subject of four alleged violations of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) filed Monday with regulators in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Spain. Real-time bidding (RTB) is a targeted advertising technique that occurs when a user visits a website, and their personal information is broadcast to hundreds of marketers who bid in a near-instant auction to get their ad in front of that specific website visitor. U.S. advertisers spent an estimated $23.5 billion on the tactic last year, up from $6.4 billion in 2014. “It includes inferences on your sexuality, your religion, what you’re reading and unique identification codes as specific as your Social Security number,” Johnny Ryan, chief policy and industry relations […]
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President Donald Trump issued an executive order Wednesday that is intended to prevent U.S. companies from using telecommunications technology made by firms that are beholden to foreign adversaries. The goal of the order is to protect the security, economy, and critical infrastructure of the U.S., a senior administration official told reporters Wednesday. The intent is to prevent economic and industrial espionage, especially those activities that pose “undue risk of sabotage” through technologies that are “owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction” of foreign adversaries. Although the order, which invokes the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act, does not name any country or company in particular, the order is thought to impinge on business with China-based Huawei. The order comes as tension has risen over the U.S.-China trade war. Earlier this week, the Chinese government said it will impose tariffs on $60 billion worth of U.S. […]
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In congressional testimony Wednesday, U.S. officials described the vast scope of alleged Chinese theft of American intellectual property and outlined ongoing efforts to counter such threats amid a dispute with Beijing. From 2011 to 2018, more than 90 percent of Justice Department cases claiming economic espionage by a state or for its benefit involved China, Assistant Attorney General John Demers said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. “The [Chinese] playbook is simple: rob, replicate, and replace,” Demers said, describing Beijing’s alleged efforts to build technology-rich companies through stolen American know-how. China is “the most severe counterintelligence threat facing our country today,” said Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. The hearing comes at a fraught time for U.S.-China relations on technology, trade, and cybersecurity issues. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alleged during an interview Wednesday with Fox News that China is responsible for a data breach at Marriott that exposed personal […]
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Another Senate bill that intends to regulate encryption in private devices is in the works. Staffers for the Senate Judiciary Committee have been speaking with representatives of large U.S. technology companies in recent months to receive feedback for potential future legislation, three people familiar with the matter told CyberScoop. These representatives have so far included trade group associations and lobbyists for technology vendors. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, explained the process as a greater push within the Trump administration to tackle the “going dark” issue. “Going dark” refers to law enforcement’s inability to bypass device encryption in order to access information that might be relevant to a criminal investigation. Last year, investigators were blocked from accessing evidence on 7,775 devices because of encryption, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently said. It’s not clear when such a bill would be introduced, because discussions are still ongoing […]
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FBI Director James Comey predicts that if left undeterred, Russian hackers will one day attempt to change the vote tally in a U.S. election. Comey said as much during a public hearing Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Members asked Comey a series of questions concerning Russia’s ability to conduct damaging cyber-operations against both the U.S. and its allies. “In my view, [Russia is] the greatest threat of any nation on earth given their intention and capability,” Comey blankly stated. Last year, in the months preceding the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 8, the Homeland Security Department discovered a series of digital attacks aimed specifically at voter registration databases used in different states. These systems are disconnected from and do not affect machines that record or tally actual votes, and there is no evidence to suggest that Russian hackers were able to alter vote counts in the 2016 election. Some officials fear, however, that […]
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