A little over three months into 2017 and encryption is once again coming into focus.
Yesterday, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, FBI director James Comey was asked about the ongoing “Going Dark” problem. He noted that thus far, in just the first three months of this year, almost half of all pending cases at the FBI involved devices or systems that “cannot be opened with any technique” available to the federal law enforcement agency. He went on to note a “collision between privacy and security,” but stopped short of supporting a legislative mandate, arguing that while the encryption issue “may require a legislative solution,” it was premature for him to say anything definite. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), however, was certain of her position, and noted her intention to reintroduce last year’s Compliance with Court Orders Act, co-sponsored with Sen. Richard Burr (R-CA) (around the 3:06:00 mark).