U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey has warned that Congress may have to get involved to help law enforcement access user data on encrypted cell phones and messaging services. “We have a huge problem,” he said. “I think ultimately it’s going to require some kind of legislative fix,” adding he is concerned that encrypted services will “create spaces that are behind the reach of the law in the United States.” Similarly, the chief of European police intelligence agency Europol has said encryption has become one of the biggest challenges for law enforcement detecting terrorism. Privacy advocates, however, disagree. In a column for The Guardian, Trevor Trimm argues that creating so-called “backdoors” into such services will “weaken everyone’s security.”
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