FBI: Backdoors in software may have to be mandatory

The fact that Apple and Google build encryption into their mobile operating systems is going too far, according to the director of the FBI, James Comey. He suggests that legislation should be introduced to build in a back door for the government.

Comey made his statements Thursday, The New York Times reports. The FBI director previously opposed the encryption of Google and Apple: according to him, it makes it difficult to track down terrorists and child abusers, for example.

Recently, Google and Apple announced that they had improved the encryption of Android and iOS. With the introduction of Android Lollipop, encryption is on by default; until now, users had to enable it themselves. As of iOS 8, Apple can no longer decrypt users’ iOS devices; Until now, devices were encrypted, but Apple was able to bypass a user’s passcode. According to The New York Times, investigators fear other companies will follow.

Earlier, US Attorney General Eric Holder asked tech companies to keep backdoors open for the government. However, it is unclear how the US government thinks about legislation to make the backdoors mandatory. An advisory committee of President Obama, set up after the Snowden revelations, advised against doing so.