US government is not going to pass a law that would undermine encryption for the time being

For the time being, the Obama administration is refraining from enacting a law that would oblige companies to be able to undo encryption, for example via backdoors. However, Washington continues to exert pressure on, for example, tech companies.

The decision not to enforce the law to unencrypt communications was announced Thursday at a Senate meeting of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “Although we are not seeking a legal remedy, it makes sense to continue talking to the industry,” FBI chief James B. Comey said, according to The Washington Times.

This maintains the current situation. Currently, the US government is pressuring companies to come up with ways to view communications, even when encryption is used. Since the Snowden revelations revealed the extent of the NSA’s eavesdropping, more and more programs and services are offering encryption capabilities, including end-to-end encryption. The FBI claims that trend is seriously hampering its investigations.

Civil rights movement EFF calls the move a “victory for technology rights activists worldwide.” More than 50,000 people and organizations, including advocacy groups who also represent Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple, had rallied behind the SaveCrypto.org initiative to persuade Obama not to pass such a bill.