Spooks v tech firms: Crypto wars 2.0

UK Only Article: 
standard article

Issue: 

Welcome back to Washington

Fly Title: 

Spooks v tech firms

Rubric: 

Intelligence agencies and tech firms have little choice but to compromise

Location: 

SAN FRANCISCO

Main image: 

GCHQ: listening in

GCHQ: listening in

THOSE who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, the saying goes. This seems to be particularly true in the digital world. Two decades ago America’s National Security Agency developed a special encryption chip for mobile phones, called Clipper, that came with a digital backdoor so spooks and police could listen in. It was meant as a compromise, but abandoned as the NSA and the FBI, at least outwardly, lost the “crypto wars” against a powerful coalition of internet activists and technology companies.
Since the underlying conflict—the need to protect online privacy with strong encryption versus the authorities’ need to eavesdrop occasionally—was not resolved, it is now coming …

Link to article: www.economist.com/news/business/21631055-intelligence-agencies-and-tech-firms-have-little-choice-compromise-crypto-wars-20?fsrc=rss