Democratic lawmakers call on Barr to stop opposing encryption | TheHill – The Hill

A pair of Democratic lawmakers sent a letter toAttorney General William BarrWilliam Pelham BarrDe Blasio questions details surrounding Jeffrey Epstein's death: 'Something doesn't fit here' Hillicon Valley: Zuckerberg to meet with civil rights leaders to discuss political ads | Senate bill targets 'secret' online algorithms | GitHub defends ICE contract | Former officials, lawmakers urge action on election security Democratic lawmakers call on Barr to stop opposing encryption MORE on Thursday urginghim tostopgovernment requests for encryption backdoors, which allow the government to obtain certain user information from tech companies.

Sen. Ron WydenRonald (Ron) Lee WydenOvernight Health Care: Warren unveils 'Medicare for All' funding plan | Warren says plan won't raise middle class taxes | Rivals question claims | Biden camp says plan will hit 'American workers' | Trump taps cancer doctor Stephen Hahn for FDA chief White House distances itself from Pelosi plan to lower drug prices Twitter shakes up fight over online political ads MORE (D-Ore.) and Rep. Anna EshooAnna Georges EshooHillicon Valley: Zuckerberg to meet with civil rights leaders to discuss political ads | Senate bill targets 'secret' online algorithms | GitHub defends ICE contract | Former officials, lawmakers urge action on election security Democratic lawmakers call on Barr to stop opposing encryption House Democrats launch process to replace Cummings on Oversight panel MORE (D-Calif.) argued that the Justice Department's push to limitsuch encryption "is not just hypocritical, but it has been repeatedly criticized by cryptographers and other leading cybersecurity experts."

We urge you to stop demanding that private companies purposefully weaken their encryption for the false pretense of protecting children," the lawmakers wrote.

Barr has been an outspoken criticof encryption, whichprotects messages from surveillance and makescompanies that use it unable to access the contents of users' messages.

In a July speech, the attorney generalsaidit prevents U.S. law enforcement from tracking down criminals at the helm of drug cartels and even some individuals who are responsible for murder.

Barr sent a letter to Facebook earlier this month urging the company to hold off on incorporating end-to-end encryption to Messenger and Instagram, saying the feature would allow criminals like child predators to avoid law enforcement.

While the Justice Department has pushed back on efforts to curtail access to messages for law enforcement purposes, tech companies have defended encryption as an essential privacy protection for users.

Digital rights activist andcompanies, including Facebook, have also pushed back on government requests for law enforcement backdoors into encrypted communications, arguing that creating them would compromise user privacy and give authoritarian-style surveillance powers to the government.

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Democratic lawmakers call on Barr to stop opposing encryption | TheHill - The Hill