House bill would ban feds from weakening digital security

Hours after Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced legislation to prevent the government from forcing companies to build backdoors into their technology, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) has unveiled a similar bill for the House.

The timing of the bill, with just days left on the congressional calendar, makes it unlikely to move forward this year.

{mosads}Yet the coordinated action in both chambers of Congress sends a strong signal to the Obama administration that some lawmakers are prepared to fight against the FBI’s demand that it be able to access people’s cellphones and other devices. 

The FBI has said that it is losing the ability to track potential murderers and kidnappers, as companies like Apple and Google have adopted new protections to automatically encrypt users’ data. The tech companies say that disclosures about the National Security Agency have made consumers lose trust in them, which has forced them to take matters into their own hands.

To maintain its ability to grab evidence, FBI Director James Comey asked Congress earlier this year to update a two decade-old federal wiretapping law so that agents could get access to texts, pictures, notes and other communications that people keep on their iPhones and Android devices.  

Civil liberties proponents have struck back against the call. Not only would it give the government the ability to invade people’s privacy, they say, but it also opens the door for foreign hackers and spies to break in.  

Earlier this year, the House overwhelmingly passed a stronger measure to end “backdoor” searches of Americans’ communications, but that provision will likely be dropped from the final spending bill that lawmakers take up next week. A Democratic aide said that the new bill would be a way to remind leaders about the chamber’s opposition to spying and to set “goalposts” for next year. 

Lofgren’s bill has nine co-sponsors, including Republican Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.), Justin Amash (Mich.), Ted Poe (Texas) and James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.).  

— Updated at 3:53 p.m.