Encryption loophole for government will welcome all hackers

[Commentary] Recently, FBI and justice department officials appeared on Capitol Hill to ask for a backdoor that would allow them to circumvent encryption to eavesdrop on data and communications. Congress should reject this access to data, as it did in 1993 during the Clinton administration.

The request may sound reasonable in these unsettled times, but a backdoor is bad for business, bad for communications -- and bad for security. Powerful encryption is what makes secure e-commerce, social networking and online communication possible. The government should support the security of those systems, not undermine them with backdoors and loopholes. If a loophole is created, the government won't be the only one exploiting it. A recent report from experts in encryption concluded that it's impossible to create access for law enforcement without letting criminals in through the same back door. Hackers would have access to everything we send online, and it might take years for us to even realize the software was breached.