FBI Director Comey Claims Encryption Is “Essential Tradecraft” For Terror Groups

The FBI have been all but quiet on the issue of encryption, with a rather large court battle with Apple only ending because the FBI found another way to reach their goals. The argument of encryption vs public security is one that won’t go away and during a news conference the director of the FBI made some rather bold claims regarding technology.

FBI’s Directory, James Comey, made two comments that are of particular interest, the first being that encryption was an “essential tradecraft” of terror groups. With governments proposing back door legislation and master keys to any encryption process used, it’s not surprising that the FBI’s director is publically speaking about the issue on an almost regular basis.

The FBI’s director didn’t stop with encryption, this time, all cards were on the table as YouTube was mentioned in the news conference. Comey stated that the “YouTube society” that we currently live in, could be responsible for an increase in violent crimes in no less than 40 cities.

This argument comes on the proviso that police are less likely to do the “marginal additional policing that suppresses crime” when they risk being put up on Youtube for doing their job. Given the FBI’s record of illegally recording people’s actions, it would appear they can spy on us but if we catch them doing bad stuff while trying to arrest us, we are at fault.