Prepared Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley, Hearing On “Going Dark: Encryption, Technology, and the Balance Between Public Safety and Privacy

Tags: 2010s Child Exploitation FBI Going Dark Hearing Law Enforcement

Authors: Grassley, Chuck

Published: July 2015

URL: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/going-dark-encryption-technology-and-the-balance-between-public-safety-and-privacy

Abstract: On July 8, 2015, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, addressed a Senate hearing, inquiring “whether recent technological changes have upset the balance between public safety and privacy.” Of particular focus for Senator Grassley was responding to law enforcement questions of “whether the laws Congress has enacted over the years to adapt [the framework of the Fourth Amendment] to changing technology, such as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, are adequate to the task [of preserving the rule of law, ensuring the maintenance of public safety, and protecting individual privacy and civil liberties].” Senator Grassley gave voice to law enforcement concerns of “Going Dark,” which stress that despite being able to secure warrants to search for evidence of a crime, encryption has hindered the ability to intercept real-time communications and to search “data at rest” on encrypted devices. Senator Grassley also lent credence to concerns of officials within the privacy and technology communities that any reform would undermine the privacy interests of US citizens and the international competitiveness of domestic technology companies. In closing, Senator Grassley emphasized his hope that “the Senate takes a first step at seeing if any consensus is possible on this important and complicated issue.”