EFF Reveals Alarming Crypto Policy Proposed by US Government

The Privacy & Technology in the 21st Century: Rights, Responsibilities, and the Bottom Line event just wrapped up today in Austin, Texas. Hosted by the ACLU, the event brought together Austin technology business leaders and policymakers to talk about the role of technology in privacy and security.

Golden Frog joined other community tech leaders in continuing to advocate for the technology, such as encryption, that is so essential to safeguard users’ privacy and security online and in personal communications.

One of the event speakers was Lee Tien, the EFF‘s Senior Staff Attorney and Adams Chair for Internet Rights. During his talk, he revealed some of the points reflected in the crypto policy that’s being worked on by the U.S. government. These points were revealed through a recent whitepaper that was leaked – which you can find in this Washington Post article. Although still in flux, the proposed policy elements are extremely alarming. They include the following:

We are very concerned by the fact that the US government continues to work on policies that encourage backdoor encryption. The practices outlined above would represent significant risks to consumer privacy and security. It’s as important as ever that we continue to come together with leaders in the tech community – in Austin and beyond – and fight for encryption and the right to privacy and security.

Learn about the dangers or backdoor encryption.

Learn why encryption is essential.