FBI’s attack on encryption

WASHINGTON As Googles Android smartphone operating system was coming under attack in fall 2012 from malware with the colorful names of Loozfon and FinFisher, the FBIs Internet Crime Complaint Center issued an alert against the threat.

Depending on the type of phone, the FBI said, the operating system may have encryption available. This can be used to protect the users personal data.

Last fall, when Apple and Google announced they were cleaning up their operating systems to ensure that their users information was encrypted to prevent hacking and potential data loss, FBI Director James Comey attacked both companies. He claimed the encryption would cause the users to place themselves above the law.

The tech community fired back. The only actions that have undermined the rule of law, Ken Gude wrote in Wired, are the governments deceptive and secret mass-surveillance programs.

The battle resumed in February 2015. Michael Steinbach, FBI assistant director for counterterrorism, said it is irresponsible for companies like Google and Apple to use software that denies the FBI lawful means to intercept data.

Yet the FBI does have a lawful means to intercept it: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Its scope was expanded by Congress after the 9/11 attacks.

Its worth noting that the FBI never asked Congress to force tech companies to build back doors into their products immediately after the 9/11 attacks. Only after Google and Apple took steps to patch existing security vulnerabilities did the bureau suddenly express concern that terrorists might be exploiting this encryption.

In fact, the bureau has a host of legal authorities and technological capabilities at its disposal to intercept and read communications, or even to penetrate facilities or homes to implant audio and video recording devices. The larger problem confronting the FBI and the entire U.S. intelligence community is their over-reliance on electronic technical collection against terrorist targets.

The best way to disrupt any organized criminal element is to get inside of it physically. But the U.S. governments counterterrorism policies have made that next to impossible.

The FBI, for example, targets the very Arab-American and Muslim-American communities it needs to work with if it hopes to find and neutralize home-grown violent extremists, including promulgating new rules on profiling that allow for the potential mapping of Arab- or Muslim-American communities.

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FBI’s attack on encryption