I'm convinced Feinstein's office doesn't understand how bad this proposal is for American businesses. It would force business communications vendors to maintain a way to decrypt customers' trade secrets. Those vendors would become incredibly high-value targets overnight.
She just passed a bill to legally protect American companies' trade secrets (https://twitter.com/SenFeinstein/status/717387073804767233), so it's not like she doesn't care about intellectual property. I think if she understood the implications, she wouldn't back this.
Lawmakers have a tendency to expect that when they pass a bill to protect something, it will in fact be protected. Since they are at the top of the "security by policy" game, they don't really think about the value of "security by design".
So she passes a bill to protect trade secrets just before she proposes another bill that might put trade secrets in jeopardy. "Don't worry, they're still protected by this other bill!"
Since they are at the top of the "security by policy" game, they don't really think about the value of "security by design".
So she passes a bill to protect trade secrets just before she proposes another bill that might put trade secrets in jeopardy. "Don't worry, they're still protected by this other bill!"
Which would just mean open season for governments with state-sponsored hacking for industrial espionage. This includes China and the US.
She just passed a bill to legally protect American companies' trade secrets (https://twitter.com/SenFeinstein/status/717387073804767233), so it's not like she doesn't care about intellectual property. I think if she understood the implications, she wouldn't back this.
Give her a call or write a letter, especially if you're in her constituency: http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/state-offic...