US says it doesn't need secret court's approval to ask for encryption backdoors
0US says it doesn't need secret court's approval to ask for encryption backdoors.
A Washington DC court house building where the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court sits. (Image: file photo)
The US government does not need the approval of its secret surveillance court to ask a tech company to build an encryption backdoor.
The government made its remarks in July in response to questions posed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), but they were only made public this weekend.
The implication is that the government can use its legal authority to secretly ask a US-based company for technical assistance, such as building an encryption backdoor into a product, but can petition the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to compel the company if it refuses.