“Weakened encryption eventually will be used by the very bad guys we want to stop —and lots of others as well,” Krauss said.
US intelligence officials have cited encryption software as a way terrorists communicate with one another and avoid detection by intelligence or law enforcement. US federal agencies, including the National Security Agency, have attempted to persuade private companies to guarantee the government access to data in criminal or national security investigations.
“As we learned during the Stasi era in Germany, freedom from surveillance is essential to human rights and human dignity, and encryption gives people this freedom,” Krauss said. “This is the history of so-called ‘back doors’ to encryption.”
On Wednesday, US Congressman Peter King told Sputnik that the US government needs to gain access to encryption keys to prevent terrorists from avoiding detection or going dark.
