Reps. Farenthold, Lieu, Bishop and DelBene Introduce Bipartisan ENCRYPT Act

Press Release

Today, Congressmembers Blake Farenthold (R-TX), Ted W. Lieu (D-CA), Mike Bishop (R-MI) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA) introduced the bipartisan Ensuring National Constitutional Rights for Your Private Telecommunications (ENCRYPT) Act of 2016. The legislation would preempt state and local government encryption laws to ensure a uniform, national policy for the interstate issue of encryption technology. Recently, state legislators in California and New York have introduced bills to effectively ban encryption on any smartphone sold in their respective states.

"Different rules in different states create a myriad of issues and will actually make it more difficult for law enforcement officials. We need a unified approach to this issue that both protects security and privacy while enabling law enforcement to keep us safe," Congressman Blake Farenthold (R-TX) said. "The California and New York proposals do not solve the problem. We need to keep free market and trade between the several states robust, not promote a false sense of security and require things like backdoors and golden keys that can be exploited by hackers."

"A patchwork of 50 different encryption standards is a recipe for disaster that would create new security vulnerabilities, threaten individual privacy and undermine the competitiveness of American innovators," Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) said. "It is bad for law enforcement, bad for technology users, and bad for American technology companies. National issues require national responses. The ENCRYPT Act makes sure that this conversation happens in a place that does not disrupt interstate commerce."

"The safety of our nation is the number one priority for this Congress," Congressman Mike Bishop (R-MI) said. "A major part of that effort involves protecting our information from cyber threats, whether it deals with our nation's security, commerce or personal data. The ENCRPYT Act is a critical first step in adopting a national approach -- instead of the patchwork of encryption standards that our tech industry and law enforcement face today."

"Requiring companies to weaken devices with "backdoors' means we open up innocent Americans to the bad actors who would love easier access to our citizens' personal information," Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (D-WA) said. "Given this reality, a patchwork of state laws on encryption will not make us safer. Rather, they open us up to attacks, and weaken our national security, not strengthen it."

BILL ENDORSEMENTS

ACT | The App Association, Niskanen Center, Internet Technology Industry Council (ITI), Internet Association (IA), Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2C), App Developers Alliance.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

Encyption is an integral part of the U.S. economy. It provides security for much of the nation's commerce, both online and at physical locations. It ensures that our most sensitive data stays private. Encryption protects patient health information, financial data, and every American who shops online.
In the $120 billion app economy, encryption provides the transaction security that allows companies to sell globally. App companies flourish in every state of the country because they can market their software to a global audience wherever there is an internet connection.
It is clear to see that encryption plays a critical role in interstate commerce. Regulation addressing this technology must come from the federal government. Any attempts by states to regulate independently in this space would create a patchwork of conflicting laws. This would be unmanageable and interfere with interstate commerce.