The ACLU is Suing for Info on the FBI's Encryption Breaking Capabilities
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:
The ACLU Is Suing For Info On The FBI's Encryption Breaking Capabilities:
The American Civil Liberties Union announced on Tuesday that it plans to sue for information related to the FBI's shadowy and relatively new ability to break into encrypted devices at will.
The lawsuit will reportedly seek to target information related to the FBI's Electronic Device Analysis Unit (EDAU) and its apparent acquisition of software that would allow the government to unlock and decrypt information that is otherwise securely stored on cell phones.
[...] The problem, however, is that the FBI's refusal to acknowledge whether the records exist or not is particularly implausible in light of how much information on the agency's attempts to access encrypted devices is already publicly available. The ACLU has now appealed to a federal court in an attempt to compel the DOJ and FBI to turn over all relevant documents on the EDAU and its technological capabilities. In the blog post, the ACLU wrote that the FBI's chilling refusal to provide information isn't just shutting the door on the investigation - "they've shut the door, closed the windows, drawn the shades, and refused to acknowledge whether the house that we're looking at even exists."
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