Government-Mandated Back Doors a Recipe for Disaster

From US rights group concerned by Web wiretap plans:

A digital rights group expressed concern on Monday over reports that the Obama administration is drawing up legislation to make it easier for US intelligence services to eavesdrop on the Internet.

The New York Times reported Monday that the White House intends to submit a bill to Congress next year that would require all online services that enable communications to be technically capable of complying with a wiretap order.

The Times said it would require encrypted email transmitters like BlackBerry, social networks like Facebook and services like Skype to provide the capability to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.

Seth Schoen, staff technologist at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), said requiring "government-mandated back doors" in communications systems would be a "recipe for disaster."

"Throughout the 1990s, EFF and others fought the 'crypto wars' to ensure that the public would have the right to strong encryption tools that protect our privacy and security -- with no back doors and no intentional weaknesses," Schoen said in a blog post.

~ more... ~