Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) have expressed their unhappiness over the government’s move on encryption technology through the backdoor. Both the companies termed the move as undermining the users’ rights. This apart, the firms believe that the move would make the law enforcement agencies less accountable for whatever its actions.
The reaction comes on the heels of the Secretary of Homeland Security and White House Cybersecurity czar that encryption was a staggering one for law enforcement. Both have also said that the government wanted some paths around it. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) were not happy with the backdoor entry.
Criticism
There were already criticisms from the experts of cryptography, who believe that the mechanism would encourage others to exploit the encryption for their benefits. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Chief Privacy Officer, Keith Enright, has reportedly said that such tools would weaken the responsibility of the officials of law enforcement in the name of seeking access to private data.
Many firms, which use the Internet, encrypt data. Similarly, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) also encrypts data through the Internet, as well as, its internal systems. The company has an exclusive team to take care of the fielding requests from the government agencies. Normally, such requests come with a warrant or any legal documentation that seeks authorization to access a specific person’s data. Enright said that if the government’s enforcement agencies are allowed to decrypt data for themselves, then they would not able to help the process.
Lack Of Transparency
Google’s official said that they were already facing a big issue of accessing user data due to a lack of transparency on the part of the government. He termed that the enforcement agencies have been overreaching. He said that he would campaign in favor of transparency in respect of access for law enforcement agencies.
The company was said to have lobbied for the right to reveal information about requests from the government side for user data. Google has also expanded its encryption use after the ex-intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, revealed that there were secret ways to access users’ data of the search engine giant.
Facebook Supports
The social networking site backed the views expressed by Google’s privacy officer. Facebook Director of Privacy, Erin Egan, said that any fresh tools that would allow the government an easy access to user data would be less transparent. He said that there was a question mark among the people who were using the services and their trust was paramount for them.
She said that anything anti-ethical would not get its support. The Privacy Director of Facebook pointed out Mark Zuckerberg’s recent post about his complaint to the government’s move to harvest data secretly. Both the companies believe that accessing user data without the permission meant an encroachment to their privacy.
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