Proposed Bill Could Force Tech Companies To Provide Backdoor Access

So far tech companies like Apple and Google have been successfully battling the US government in terms of denying them backdoor access to their customer information, as well as devices. This isn’t so much about them not co-operating with the government, it’s more about how backdoor access for the government could potentially also be a way in for the bad guys.

However, it seems that a new bill that is being proposed in New York could change all of that. Basically, this bill, if put into effect, will make it mandatory for tech companies to provide law enforcement agencies with backdoor access to devices, as well as the ability to decrypt the information they find.

The bill reads (via On The Wire) that “any smartphone manufactured on or after January 1, 2016, and sold or leased in New York, shall be capable of being decrypted and unlocked by its manufacturer or its operating system provider.” It even suggests that if phone makers don’t comply, they could be fined up to $2,500 per infringing device. Given that companies like Apple sell phones in the millions, this could very quickly deplete the Cupertino company’s war chest.

Similar proposals have been made over in countries such as the UK and China, although thankfully the Dutch government seems to be going the opposite route and asking for even stronger encryption. That being said the bill has yet to come into effect so there is always a chance that it may never come to pass.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Legal, Privacy, Security