Earlier this year Apple and the FBI sparked a huge debate around encryption when law enforcement officials asked the technology giant to hack into one of its iPhones. The iPhone had belonged to a shooter in the San Bernardino, Calif., terror attack last year. The idea of giving law enforcement access to personal data ignited an argument on protecting a user’s personal privacy vs. national security.

As a result of this debate, the bipartisanship Congressional Encryption Working Group (EWG) was formed. The EWG was tasked with the job of conducting a thorough and objective review of the encryption debate. This month the group has released their end of the year report looking at the importance encryption has on personal, economical and national security.

“The widespread adoption of encryption poses a real challenge to the law enforcement community and strong encryption is essential to both individual privacy and national security. A narrative that sets government agencies against private industry, or security interests against individual privacy, does not accurately reflect the complexity of the issue,” according to the report.

The report made four observations:

  2. Encryption is a global technology that is widely and increasingly available around the world.

To address these issues, the report states, Congress should explore ways that help law enforcement access the appropriate information and reduce the tension from private companies; examine how metadata analysis can help with the loss of encrypted information; consider a legal framework for legal hacking; look into compelled disclosure by individuals; and investigate the role encryption plays in cultivating data security and privacy.
