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jct74
06-06-2015, 01:33 PM
US lawmaker: Next, we stop the NSA from weakening encryption
Encryption should stay strong, says one privacy-minded member of Congress.

By Zack Whittaker for Zero Day
June 4, 2015 -- 19:40 GMT (12:40 PDT)

NEW YORK -- With one surveillance reform package out the door, lawmakers are working the big "what's next."

Hot on the heels of President Barack Obama signing the Freedom Act into law Wednesday, a bipartisan congressional effort is now focusing their efforts on preventing the government from weakening encryption.

An amendment put forward by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY, 4th) to a recent appropriations bill passed by overwhelming majority of 383-43 late in the day Wednesday.

Massie, a strong advocate for privacy and civil liberties, explained on the phone Thursday that his eight-line amendment will prevent the NSA, which remains an encryption expert, from working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to weaken or compromise encryption.

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read more:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/congress-massie-nsa-weakening-encryption-rsa-nist/

jct74
06-06-2015, 01:42 PM
PRESS RELEASE: House Passes Massie Amendment to Strengthen Privacy and Security

Jun 5, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC – The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed an important anti-surveillance amendment sponsored by Congressman Thomas Massie, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), and Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX). The amendment was part of the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) appropriations bill, which funds many government agencies, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce.

The 383-43 vote represents a victory for electronic privacy advocates. Massie's amendment would prevent the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from cooperating with the NSA to weaken encryption standards for the purpose of facilitating electronic surveillance.

“When our government weakens encryption software to spy on citizens, it puts everyone at risk. Hackers can exploit weak encryption to gain access to Americans' confidential health records and financial information," said Congressman Massie. "The NIST charter is to establish dependable standards, not to compromise standards for the purpose of spying."

The House passed the underlying CJS appropriations bill, 242-183. The measure will require passage in the Senate before advancing to the President.

http://massie.house.gov/press-release/press-release-house-passes-massie-amendment-strengthen-privacy-and-security

jct74
06-06-2015, 01:50 PM
House Overwehelmingly Passes Amendments Blocking Funding For Undermining Encryption
from the closing-the-backdoor dept

by Mike Masnick
Thu, Jun 4th 2015 4:15am

As we've been saying, the passage of the USA Freedom Act is just a small first step in the long road to real surveillance reform. On Wednesday, the House took another small step, voting overwhelmingly in favor of an amendment to an appropriations bill put forth by Rep. Thomas Massie that blocks funding to the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) for working with the NSA or CIA to undermine or backdoor encryption. This appears to be quite similar to part of the similar amendment last year that banned both this kind of NIST coordination, but also the NSA's use of backdoor searches under Section 702. As far as I can tell, this new amendment does not include that latter bit. Either way, this amendment passed 383 to 43.

It appears that another amendment, put forth by Rep. Ted Poe also passed by voice vote and it would block the use of funds from the DOJ/FBI from being used "to mandate or request that a person alter the product or service of the person to permit electronic surveillance of any user or service" except in cases required under existing wiretapping law.

Both of these are very big deals, and the fact that they passed so easily suggests that the House is nowhere near done on pushing for real surveillance reform. Of course, whether or not these actually go anywhere is another story. As you may recall, after passing overwhelmingly last year, under pressure to get a big omnibus bill done at the end of the year, the House leadership agreed to drop those provisions under pressure from the intelligence community.

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read more:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150603/17332431213/house-overwehelmingly-passes-amendments-blocking-funding-undermining-encryption.shtml

Sola_Fide
06-06-2015, 02:01 PM
Massie is a rock star.