[Infowarrior] - Mitch McConnell To Obama: Please, Just Tell Us What Law You Need To Ban Encryption And You'll Get It

[Richard Forno]

Senator Mitch McConnell To Obama: Please, Just Tell Us What Law You Need To Ban Encryption And You'll Get It

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151206/15493433005/senator-mitch-mcconnell-to-obama-please-just-tell-us-what-law-you-need-to-ban-encryption-youll-get-it.shtml

from the begging-to-undermine-american-security dept

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has always been a friend of the intelligence community, but he's using the attack in San Bernadino to ramp up the anti-encryption insanity to new levels, practically begging President Obama to tell him what law he wants to ban encryption, and McConnell will help make sure Congress delivers. McConnell's statement was laying out what he thought President Obama should do in response to ISIS, and includes this ridiculous line:

He should tell us what legal authorities he needs to defeat encrypted online communications, and what is needed to reestablish our capture, interrogation, and surveillance capabilities.

"Defeat encrypted online communications"? Is he crazy? We need encrypted online communications to better protect us, and yet McConnell is trying to undermine those communications. He's actively proposing to make us all less safe. And, of course, talking about "reestablishing" our "surveillance capabilities" is about giving the NSA more surveillance powers. McConnell was, of course, the key person who tried to block any attempt at rolling back the NSA's unconstitutional phone records collection program. 

Now, we know that President Obama didn't go quite as far as McConnell asked, but he did still push for a more "voluntary" solution -- which may morph into Congress doing something if people don't speak out loudly about what an incredibly dumb idea this is.

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