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Five Eyes Intel Alliance Urges Big Tech to Help Break Encrypted Messages

31-8-2018 < Blacklisted News 77 194 words
 

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen joined leaders of the U.S.’s four major intelligence sharing partners Thursday in a statement urging tech companies to help law enforcement access otherwise-encrypted communications from criminals and terrorists.


The joint statement stopped short of urging new laws to mandate that cooperation but warned that “should governments continue to encounter impediments to lawful access to information necessary to aid the protection of the citizens of our countries, we may pursue technological, enforcement, legislative or other measures to achieve lawful access solutions.”


The statement from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, collectively known as the Five Eyes, describes law enforcement’s inability to access encrypted communications as “a pressing international concern that requires urgent, sustained attention.”


While “governments should recognize that the nature of encryption is such that there will be situations where access to information is not possible,” the statement notes, “such situations should be rare.”


Obama and Trump administration officials have warned since 2014 that end-to-end encryption systems, which shield the content of communications even from the communications provider, are allowing criminals and terrorists to plan operations outside law enforcement’s reach.


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