Feinstein vows to offer bill to pierce encryption

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is vowing to lead the charge on legislation that would require companies to decrypt data under court order.

“I’m going to seek legislation if nobody else is,” she said during an FBI oversight hearing Wednesday

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Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is also working with her on the bill, she added.

The recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., have resurrected a Capitol Hill push to compel companies like Apple and Google to hand over encrypted data to law enforcement officials.

“I think this world is really changing in terms of people wanting the protection and wanting law enforcement, if there is conspiracy going on over the Internet, that that encryption ought to be able to be pierced,” Feinstein said.

But many prominent tech players have argued that even they are unable to access customers’ encrypted data, and thus cannot comply with a court order to turn over the digital communications. They say any form of guaranteed access to secured data defeats the purpose of encryption, exposing customer data to hackers as well as to government officials.

Apple recently rejected a court order seeking encrypted iMessages, citing its unbreakable encryption system.

Law enforcement officials and some lawmakers warn this situation is making it exceedingly difficult for investigators to track potential terrorists and criminals.

“I have concern about a Playstation, which my grandchildren might use, and a predator getting on the other end talking to them and it’s all encrypted,” Feinstein said. “And so I think there really is reason to have the ability, with a court order, to be able to …. get into that.”

FBI Director James Comey, the sole witness during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, agreed with Feinstein.

“I would very much like to get to a world,” he said, in which “if a judge issues an order, companies are able to comply to either unlock a device or to provide the communications between terrorists or between drug dealers or kidnappers.”

Comey believes it’s possible to respond to such court orders without irrevocably damaging the encryption.

“Lots of companies do it today, provide secure services and comply with court orders,” he said.

But Comey stopped short of fully endorsing Feinstein’s legislative push.

“The question of whether the answer is compelling them to do that by legislation is one that I can’t answer sitting here,” he said.

The Obama administration decided in October to, at least temporarily, not pursue a bill that would force companies to hand over encrypted data.

Feinstein vows to offer bill to pierce encryption

The ATF's Ammo Ban Is Back…in the Form of a New Bill From Democrats

Four House Democrats have taken the Obama administration’s idea of a regulation to ban a widely used kind of ammunition — one it had to pull back because it was so unpopular — and turned it into legislation.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) introduced the Armor Piercing Bullets Act, which he said would ban the sale of “.223-dervied, 5.56x45mm NATO ‘green tip’ rounds” that are commonly used on the AR-15 rifle. That’s the same ban that the ATF proposed in February, through the adoption of a “framework” that would justify a ban on all bullets that can pierce police body armor.

The ATF’s failed attempt to ban ‘green tip’ ammo for the AR-15 rifle is being followed up by a Democratic attempt to legislate the ban.

The ATF’s framework prompted the submission of almost 90,000 comments, most of which opposed the plan as one that would ban a popular round used in a popular rifle. For years, these green tip rounds have enjoyed an exception from a ban on armor-piercing bullets, because they are generally used for sporting purposes.

But even when announcing that this framework would be indefinitely delayed, the ATF indicated it would continue to work on the issue and see if there’s a way to implement its framework. At a hearing last week, ATF Director B. Todd Jones said his agency was “figuring out how we do this rationally.”

Engel was more direct, and said the ATF had it right, and that it’s framework should now be implemented via legislation.

“As the ATF rightly pointed out, these rounds can easily be loaded into concealed pistols and other short guns, making them particularly dangerous to police officers,” Engel noted. “The well-being of the men and women who protect us should not, and need not, be a partisan issue. I encourage all of my colleagues in Congress to support this obvious measure that will, if enacted, save lives.”

Engel blamed the gun industry for promoting the use of armor-piercing bullets.

“There is absolutely no compelling argument to be made for anyone else to have access to them,” he said. “But the out of touch gun industry lobby is fighting tooth and nail to keep cop-killing ammunition on the streets.”

Republican senators opposed to the ATF’s proposal said last week that the real issue is how banning a popular cartridge makes it harder for people to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

“If law-abiding gun owners cannot obtain rifle ammunition, or face substantial difficulty in finding ammunition available and at reasonable prices because government entities are banning such ammunition, then the Second Amendment is at risk,” dozens of senators wrote in a letter to the ATF.

Other Democrats supporting Engel’s bill are Reps. Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), Carolyn Maloney (N.Y.), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.).

The ATF"s Ammo Ban Is Back…in the Form of a New Bill From Democrats