Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a press release once again criticizing the strong encryption that Apple provides to protect iPhone users against malicious hackers and other threats. The Internet Society, Global Partners Digital, and the Center for Democracy & Technology, members of the Steering Committee of the recently launched Global Encryption Coalition, issued the following joint statement:
”The Department of Justice and FBI once again obtained the contents of a cell phone that they claimed encryption prevented them from accessing. They attacked Apple for allowing users to protect themselves against intrusions from criminal hackers, oppressive governments, and domestic abusers by encrypting their iPhones.
The Department of Justice has demonstrated again that it can access devices protected by strong encryption. It just has to expend the resources to do so.
Despite this, the DOJ still insists on weakening encryption to give law enforcement easy access, which would put us all at risk. Encryption for messages and devices protects individuals’ incredibly sensitive information and is necessary for the safe exercise of human rights and civil liberties.
The encryption backdoors that the DOJ is calling for would create new opportunities for nefarious actors to access or manipulate our data, putting American citizens, our national security professionals, and our infrastructure at greater risk of harm.”
The statement can be attributed to:
- Greg Nojeim, Director of the Freedom, Security and Technology Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology
- Charles Bradley, Executive Director at Global Partners Digital
- Jeff Wilbur, Senior Director of Online Trust at the Internet Society
The Global Encryption Coalition is a coalition of over 30 organizations around the world that have come together to protect encryption.