After NSA fight, Rand Paul attempts to protect encryption

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) again stood up to government snoops Tuesday with proposals to block the encryption backdoors so desired by top Justice Department officials and the Obama administration.

In response to increasing calls for looser encryption on consumer communication gadgets from top U.S. law enforcement officials, Paul and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Tuesday set about amending the Senate’s surveillance reform bill to protect encryption. The lawmakers’ proposals would forbid the government from coercing companies to providing access points into their encryption for law enforcement snoops.

The proposals resemble provisions set forth in the Secure Data Act, a standalone bill prohibiting government backdoors in encryption, which Wyden has introduced several times in the upper legislative chamber with little luck.

Unfortunately for privacy groups, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did his best Tuesday to block voting on amendments such as that presented by Paul and Wyden in favor of amendments proposed by establishment GOP lawmakers. The amendments McConnell allowed for consideration, according to 4^th Amendment advocates, were ones intended to water down the USA Freedom Act rather than bolster privacy protections. And encryption protections certainly wouldn’t fall in line with surveillance hawks’ desire to increase the ease of government spying.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said earlier this year that heightened encryption on digital communications devices are making it easier for criminals and potential terrorists to operate throughout the U.S.

“The current course we are on, toward deeper and deeper encryption in response to the demands of the marketplace, is one that presents real challenges for those in law enforcement and national security,” Johnson said during a cybersecurity conference in Silicon Valley.

“Encryption is making it harder for your government to find criminal activity, and potential terrorist activity,” Johnson continued.

James Comey, who heads up the FBI, has made similar statements about the need for the companies to lower their encryption standards.

“Tech execs say privacy should be the paramount virtue,” Comey told lawmakers in March. “When I hear that, I close my eyes and say, ‘Try to image [sic] what the world looks like where pedophiles can’t be seen, kidnapper[s] can’t be seen, drug dealers can’t be seen.’”

In recent months the White House has been working to urge tech companies to lower encryption standards to make it easier for law enforcement to access information on Americans’ digital devices.

The technology community, meanwhile, continues to produce advancements that may make it impossible for government surveillance to keep up with encryption changes. That could lessen the need for privacy protections like those proposed by Paul and Wyden.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said during a lecture at Johns Hopkins University in November that advances in encryption could eliminate the threat of government surveillance and censorship throughout the world within 10 years.

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