GOP candidates split on encryption

Republican presidential candidates pushed two different strategies to get access to encrypted data during Tuesday night’s CNN debate in Las Vegas.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich wants to force tech companies to decrypt data upon request, but former business executive Carly Fiorina insisted the government can achieve the same results by merely working more closely with the tech sector.

{mosads}“They do not need to be forced,” said Fiorina. “They need to be asked to bring the best and brightest the most recent technology to the table.”

“We have to give the local authorities the ability to penetrate and disrupt,” Kasich countered. “Encryption is a major problem and Congress has got to deal with it and so does the president to keep us safe.”

Since the deadly terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., major Silicon Valley players such as Apple and Google have been under intense pressure from Congress and law enforcement to allow investigators some form of guaranteed access to encrypted data.

These companies counter that ensuring access to encrypted data would expose large swaths of personal information to hackers as well as to government officials.

But Kasich said the companies’ moves to encrypt devices such as smartphones have allowed budding terrorists to hide from investigators.

He alleged that encryption played a role in allowing the San Bernardino shooters to plan their deadly plot without being noticed by authorities.

“Because their phone was encrypted, because the intelligence officials could not see who they were talking to,” he said, “it was lost.”

Despite many lawmakers repeating Kasich’s claim, investigators have yet to provide direct evidence to show the shooters used encryption to hide their plans.

Fiorina agreed that encryption is a major issue for law enforcement, but disagreed that companies should be forced through legislation to decrypt data.

Instead, the White House needs to work better with Silicon Valley.

“They have not been asked,” she said.

She referenced her experience as the head of tech company Hewlett-Packard after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“I was asked, and as a CEO I complied happily, and they will as well,” she said.