A who’s who of Silicon Valley tech giants, computer-security experts and advocacy groups asked President Barack Obama to reject police “backdoors” for smartphone and computer encryption in an open letter sent May 19.
“We urge you to reject any proposal that U.S. companies deliberately weaken the security of their products,” said the letter. “We request that the White House instead focus on developing policies that will promote rather than undermine the wide adoption of strong encryption technology.”
Signatories include Apple, Google, Facebook, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo, plus more than 40 other companies and trade groups. Joining in were nearly 40 mostly left-leaning and libertarian public-advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and nearly 60 technology experts.
