Last November Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein stated after the terrorist attacks in Paris that Silicon Valley had to take a look at their products, "Because if you create a product that allows evil monsters to communicate in this way, to behead children, to strike innocents — whether it's at a game in a stadium, in a small restaurant in Paris, take down an airlines — that is a big problem. So we need high tech's help in securing an internet that even with a court order you can't get to what they're saying. That's a big problem." Then this week we noted in a new report that Feinstein and Burr were working on a new bill to limit the use of encryption in consumer technology that's expected to be made public in the weeks to come." Today, the first draft of the new bill was leaked online and we get to take a peek at some of the framework that is likely to make it into the final version in the coming weeks ahead.

The Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016

The new "Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016" Bill: To require the provision of data in an intelligible format to a government pursuant to a court order, and for other purposes.

Some Key Points from the Draft:

• No person or entity is above the law; economic growth, prosperity, security, stability, and liberty require adherence to the rule of law.
• All providers of communications services and products (including software) should protect the privacy of the United States persons through implementation of appropriate data security and still respect the rule of law and comply with all legal requirements and court orders.
• To uphold both the rule of law and protect the interests and security of the United States, all persons receiving an authorized judicial order for information or data must provide, in a timely manner, responsive, intelligible information or data, or appropriate technical assistance to obtain such information or data; and
• covered entities must provide responsive, intelligible information or data, or appropriate technical assistance to a government pursuant to a court order.

The draft further states that the government will cover reasonable compensation for those complying with a court order in providing technical assistance. The rest of the draft is noted below in a Scribd document. .

Elsewhere under "Design Limitations" the draft notes that "Nothing in this Act may be construed to authorize any government officer to require or prohibit any specific design or operating system to be adopted by any covered entity."

The "covered entity" term appears by definition in the document, to be the entity receiving the court order. This would seem to cast off any notion of the government asking for a "GovtOS" to be created as Apple has framed in past arguments.

Feinstein-Burr Encryption Bill Discussion Draft

 Scribd document published by Kara Swisher

Re/code's report presents some of the expected backlash from various associations and groups that would be affected by the new law. One such example of feedback came from Gaurav Laroia, general counsel for the Free Press who stated that "If this dangerous bill passes, it would outlaw not just end-to-end encrypted communications but also the tools that protect our information from criminals, hackers and foreign governments working to undermine the security of millions of people and businesses."

And yet as we noted in our opening paragraph that the Feinstein and Burr bill is supposed to limit the use of encryption in consumer technology – and not extend through to infrastructure and businesses. It's a fine distinction that apparently never made it into the current draft of the bill. So stay tuned, as we're bound to see other leaks make it to the press like a public test balloon. For more on this, check out Re/code's report here.

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Some of our Other Recent Encryption Case Reports

April 8, 2016 - The DOJ Files an Appeal in NY Case to Compel Apple to Extract Data from a Drug Dealer's iPhone

Apr 7, 2016 - The FBI Tells Law Makers that the Encryption on the iPhone 5S and Beyond can't be Cracked 

Apr 6, 2016 – A Published FBI Contract with Israeli Firm Cellebrite all but confirms they unlocked the San Bernardino iPhone

Apr 6, 2016 - President Obama Withholds Support for Encryption Legislation

Apr 5, 2016 - A Published FBI Contract with Israeli Firm Cellebrite all but confirms they unlocked the San Bernardino iPhone

Apr 2, 2016 - The FBI Assures Law Enforcement across the Country that it will Assist in Unlocking iPhones

March 23, 2016 - Israeli Cellebrite Specializes in Unlocking iPhones with iOS 8x

March 23, 2016 - The FBI is Reportedly Working with an Israeli Firm to Unlock the San Bernardino iPhone 5c