Facebook Rebuffs Barr, Moves Ahead on Messaging Encryption
10 Dicembre 2019 - 06:49PM
Dow Jones News
By Dustin Volz
WASHINGTON -- Facebook said it would move forward with plans to
add encryption across its messaging platforms, rejecting a plea
from Attorney General William Barr to allow some form of government
access to those services over concerns about public safety.
In a letter to Mr. Barr on Monday, Facebook executives Will
Cathcart and Stan Chudnovsky, who lead the company's WhatsApp and
Messenger services, said that undermining encryption in their
products for law enforcement would create a "backdoor"
vulnerability that malicious actors also could leverage to harm
users.
"The 'backdoor' access you are demanding for law enforcement
would be a gift to criminals, hackers and repressive regimes,
creating a way for them to enter our systems and leaving every
person on our platforms more vulnerable to real-life harm," the
executives wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by The Wall
Street Journal.
"It is simply impossible to create such a backdoor for one
purpose and not expect others to try and open it," they wrote.
Mr. Barr in October sent a letter, cosigned by his British and
Australian counterparts, to Facebook chief executive Mark
Zuckerberg chastising the company for announcing plans to roll out
what is known as end-to-end encryption, a standard security
practice that makes it extremely difficult for anyone other than
the sender or recipient of the digital communication to read it.
Mr. Barr had argued that the technology makes it harder to stop
child abusers and terrorists.
The attorney general's letter, and Facebook's response Monday,
reflect decades-old arguments in which technology companies and law
enforcement have taken opposing sides on a core privacy debate of
the digital age. Mr. Barr has been especially direct in his
criticism of Facebook and other technology companies, as he has
sought to revive the long-running dispute by specifically
emphasizing the difficulties investigators face in thwarting child
exploitation.
Despite the Justice Department's push, Republican and Democratic
lawmakers have expressed little interest in pursuing legislation to
require tech companies to allow some form of government access to
encrypted communications.
Facebook's letter to Mr. Barr came as representatives for the
company were set to appear before Congress to testify about
encryption. Jay Sullivan, Facebook's product management director
for privacy and integrity, said Tuesday in opening remarks to the
Senate Judiciary Committee that "people should be able to
communicate securely and privately with friends and loved ones
without anyone -- including Facebook -- listening to or monitoring
their conversations."
Write to Dustin Volz at dustin.volz@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 10, 2019 12:34 ET (17:34 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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