A bill making its way through the New York state assembly could force smartphone OEMs to build decryption methods into their devices so as to make it possible to decrypt them when demanded by law enforcement agencies.
The bill mandates that any smartphone sold on or after January 1, 2016 should have the capability of being decrypted or unlocked from its OEM or OS provider. If an OEM/OS provider fails to comply to this rule, they would have to pay a fine of $2,500 per device.
The bill was first introduced by Matthew Titone last summer and was referred to the committee on January 6. He justifies the introduction of the bill by saying that it is ultimately for the safety of the common public and would help law enforcement in catching more criminals and terrorists.
“The fact is that, although the new software may enhance privacy for some users, it severely hampers law enforcement’s ability to aid victims. All of the evidence contained in smartphones and similar devices will be lost to law enforcement, so long as the criminals take the precaution of protecting their devices with passcodes. Of course they will do so. Simply stated, passcode-protected devices render lawful court orders meaningless and encourage criminals to act with impunity.”
The fate of the bill would be decided by first moving it to the floor and then being voted on in by the assembly and senate. If passed, all smartphone OEMs and OS vendors will need to ensure that they comply to this rule and enable a decrypting mechanism in their phones.
Apple and its CEO Tim Cook have constantly made it clear that they do not support putting in backdoors in their smartphones and encryption technology to aid law enforcement agencies. While this might lead to some casualties, it ends up preventing the “bad guys” from doing greater damage if they also end up gaining access to this backdoor. It was only earlier today that Tim Cook called out White House to support unbreakable encryption.
[Via OnTheWire]
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