The White House has declined to publicly support the draft legislation co-authored by Sens. Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein that will require technology companies to assist law enforcement officers in breaking data encryption, Reuters reported Thursday.Mark Hosenball and Dustin Volz write the White House has reviewed the draft and provided feedback but is presumed to give minimal public acknowledgement of the bill after its scheduled introduction within the week.
The bill would give judges authority to obligate tech companies to help the government but lacks specific details on the circumstances and penalties for noncompliance, Reuters said.
The draft legislation follows the effort of the Justice Department to employ the help of Apple in cracking the encryption of an iPhone used by a gunman in the December 2015 San Bernardino attack, Hosenball and Volz noted.
