While the US Justice Department’s claims that government-mandated encryption backdoors would make it easier to prevent terror attacks, almost two-thirds (64%) of consumers across the US, UK, France and Germany don’t believe this argument, a recent survey by Venafi found. Only 30% of respondents expressed trust in governments to safeguard the personal information of citizens. In the US, the number was even lower (24%).
Venafi’s Kevin Bocek argues that “many politicians and law enforcement officials wish to use surveillance tools and backdoors that most consumers associate with authoritarian regimes, not democracies.” Bocek believes that “if we can’t trust governments to protect sensitive personal data, it’s difficult to imagine how they will be able to regulate the private sector effectively.”
Earlier this year, US Attorney General William Barr claimed that increased encryption of data on devices and applications is undermining national security and that tech firms can and must put backdoors in place that will allow officers to bypass encryption mechanisms on devices and applications in the context of law enforcement investigations.
Read more: Global Consumers Reject Government-Mandated Encryption Backdoors
