What President Obama is getting wrong about encryption

"I lean probably further in the direction of strong encryption than some do inside of law enforcement," President Barack Obama said during an interview. "But I am sympathetic to law enforcement because I know the kind of pressure they’re under to keep us safe. And it’s not as black and white as it’s sometimes portrayed." But the technical aspects of encryption actually are quite black and white, experts say, adding that the example President Obama used to illustrate the risks of encryption doesn't match up with how tech companies are deploying the security measure for customers.

President Obama suggested that the FBI might be blocked from discovering who a terrorist was communicating with by tech companies' recent efforts to beef up encryption. But that type of data would still remain available, technical experts say. Additionally, with the expansion of encryption, President Obama said that a tech company may have secured data so well that it would be inaccessible. But that's not actually how the iOS or Android default encryption works, technical experts say. "The example he gives in his interview is one where encryption deployed by a company prevents them from being able to tell the government who someone is in contact with," said Christopher Soghoian, the principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. "That's not taking place right now."