Silicon Valley and the FBI Take Their Encryption Fight Behind Closed Doors
The encryption war is quiet now, but the murky back-and-forth between Silicon Valley and Washington, DC is far from over.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday that the encryption issue is “getting worse and worse” for law enforcement around the United States at all levels. It’s a common refrain for government officials over the last half-decade, but it’s been a matter of sharp debate especially since the FBI overstated encryption device numbers last year.
“It can’t be a sustainable end state for there to be an entirely unfettered space that’s utterly beyond law enforcement for criminals to hide,” Wray said. “We have to figure out a way to deal with this problem.” Wray was speaking to an audience of friendly and, at times, cheering Silicon Valley techies at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. The FBI director referenced ongoing discussions between the federal government and American tech companies on the issue of encrypted communications. On the details, however, he was vague and diplomatic.
