It’s Unlikely Congress Could Pass an Encryption Workaround Bill

The battle between Apple and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over whether the tech giant should break into a locked iPhone has thrust the conversation about encryption onto the national stage. Congress looks set to get involved, but it’s unlikely that any bill requiring companies to help law enforcement get around encrypted data will gain traction.

Encryption is used in practically every service online. Legislation to break into it “is going to put a chilling effect on commerce and speech, because no one’s going to want to send information or transact online if they don’t think that their transactions are secure,” said Bijan Madhani, privacy counsel at the Computer & Communications Industry Association. There’s also the issue (as always) of pure politics. American Civil Liberties Union Legislative Counsel Neema Singh Guliani likened the encryption debate to the controversy that swirled around the National Security Agency’s bulk data collection program. Then, as now, both Republicans and Democrats have raised questions. “In Congress, this issue looks different from any other that we’ve seen,” Guliani said. “What we’re saying [is that] libertarians from the Republican party and Democrats stand together on this issue.” While lawmakers have discussed the tension between private sector encryption and law enforcement needs for at least a year, the Apple case has brought a new urgency to the problem.