Privacy Conversation at 2017 TPI Aspen Forum

Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) wants us to get real about how much faith we should put in encryption. Rep Issa argued on an Internet of Things panel that it’s high time for a straight-talk discussion about how secure popular encryption protocols actually are. ‘The former FBI director [James] Comey came before Congress and swore under oath that he had no ability to get what he needed from the San Bernardino bomber [sic] except by forcing Apple to create an active remote backdoor into the problem,’ Issa said. ‘Now a matter of weeks later, an Israeli company for a million dollars gave him the data he wanted.’ And, Issa pointed out, a few weeks after that, a University of Cambridge professor appeared to crack it again. Said Issa, ‘We have to have a real debate about whether encryptions and protections are real and unbreakable.’