Return of the CLIPPER CHIP Affair: White House Reaches Out to Silicon Valley Firms for US Government Access to Encrypted Communications

April 22, 2015

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Obama administration hopes Silicon Valley technologists can think of a system with strong encryption that could be pierced legally by one party without opening the door to others, a White House official said on Tuesday.

White House cybersecurity policy coordinator Michael Daniel said at the annual RSA Conference on security that he is trying to set starting principles for a broad public discussion on the issue, which has been a major source of tension with technology companies and other cyber experts.

A panel of experts convened by the administration following leaks by former U.S. intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden called on the government to promote strong encryption and stop trying to subvert it by surreptitious means, arguing that U.S. companies would bring in less revenue overseas if privacy protections were suspect.

But the White House has yet to adopt that stand, and senior intelligence officials including FBI Director James Comey have faulted Apple Inc and Google Inc for ramping up encryption post-Snowden.