Bipartisan Bill Would Make It Illegal For The Government To Demand Backdoor Access To Devices

A bipartisan bill being put before Congress would eliminate the possibility of any future battles between Apple and the government over backdoor access to iPhones. Apple famously fought the FBI when it demanded the firm create a compromised version of iOS to access a work iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

The Secure Data Act would ‘prohibit Federal agencies from mandating the deployment of vulnerabilities in data security technologies’ …

The sole exception would be that wiretaps would still be permitted under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. However, this exception would not allow the government to demand any weakening of end-to-end encrypted messaging services.

The bill is being introduced by three Democrats and three Republicans: Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Ted Poe (R-TX), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Ted Lieu (D-CA), and Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

The Electronic Frontier Foundation welcomed the bill, noting that it finally delivers the message that you can’t create a weakness for use by the government without making it equally vulnerable to discovery and use by criminals.

A DOJ investigation concluded in March that the FBI inadvertently misled Congress when it said that it had exhausted all attempts to access the iPhone in the San Bernardino case.