Encryption Policy

For almost 30 years, law enforcement and intelligence agencies have complained that traditional sources of intelligence are "going dark", that the advent of strong encryption will render it impossible to do their jobs. They have therefore argued that Congress should compel tech companies to build a mechanism for government to gain "exceptional access" to encrypted data—essentially, permitting easy decryption by the government. For about as long, most non-government security and cryptography specialists have been warning that technically, this is an extremely dangerous thing to do. Should exceptional access mechanisms be mandated by law?

Resolved: that Congress should compel technology companies to provide law enforcement “exceptional access” to encrypted communications.

The standard debate policies and format apply.