White House seeks Silicon Valley help on strong yet breakable encryption
The Obama administration hopes Silicon Valley technologists can think of a system with strong encryption that could be pierced legally by one party without opening the door to others, a White House official said.
White House cybersecurity policy coordinator Michael Daniel said at the annual RSA Conference on security that he is trying to set starting principles for a broad public discussion on the issue, which has been a major source of tension with technology companies and other cyber experts.
A panel of experts convened by the administration following leaks by former US intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden called on the government to promote strong encryption and stop trying to subvert it by surreptitious means, arguing that US companies would bring in less revenue overseas if privacy protections were suspect.
