After Paris Attacks, Should Governments have "Backdoors" to Our Messages?

So-called end-to-end encryption technology -- meaning data is encrypted from the sender to the recipient -- is now widely used in many standard message systems, including Apple’s iMessage and Facebook’s WhatsApp. Similar technology also shields the contents of smartphones running the latest versions of Apple and Google operating software. Strong encryption is used to protect everything from corporate secrets to the credit-card numbers of online shoppers to photos of grandkids by families.

That widespread use of encryption, which was previously restricted to more powerful desktop or server computers, is exactly what worries members of the intelligence and law enforcement communities. Some are now using the occasion of the Paris attacks to once again argue for restrictions on the technology, saying it hampers their ability to track and disrupt plots like the Paris attacks. Documents leaked by Snowden also shed light on NSA efforts to break encryption technologies. In response, law-enforcement and intelligence officials have argued that companies like Apple and Google should build “backdoors” into their encryption systems that would allow investigators into otherwise locked-up devices. The Obama administration continues to encourage tech companies to include such backdoors, although it says it won’t ask Congress for new law that requires them.



Credits:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/11/16/paris-terror-attacks-encryption-debate-imessage-whatsapp/