President Obama today stopped short of calling for a ban on encryption, but said that technology that prevents law enforcement officials from halting terrorist activity is a "problem."
"If we get into a situation where the technology does not allow us at all to track somebody that's a terrorist, if we find evidence of a terrorist plot somewhere in the Middle East that traces directly back to London or New York, [and] we can't penetrate that, that's a problem," Obama said during a joint press conference with U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House.
His comments come shortly after Cameron suggested that the U.K. might, in fact, ban encryption technology that prevents officials from tracking criminals via their phones, PCs, or other gadgets. That would likely be rather difficult given that iOS 8 and Android 5.0 Lollipop are encrypted by default, and the majority of U.K. citizens use either iOS or Android devices. Not to mention the fact that popular apps like WhatsApp are also encrypted.
Today, Cameron said that his objective is to "avoid the safe havens that could otherwise be created for terrorists to talk to each other."
Obama acknowledged that the evolution of technology makes it "trickier" to balance security and privacy. "The laws that might have been designed for the traditional wiretap have to be updated," Obama said today.
"How we do that needs to be debated, here in the U.S. and in the U.K.," he continued. "I think we're getting better at it."
Tech companies recognize that they have a responsibility to the public but also want to protect their customers' privacy, the president said.
"The dialogue we're engaged in is designed to make sure that all of us feel confident that if there is an actual threat out there, our law enforcement and our intelligence officers can identify that threat and track that threat [without the government] fishing into whatever text you might be sending on your smartphone," Obama said. "I think that's something that can achieved, [though there are] going to be hard cases."
The FBI has echoed Obama's concerns about encryption technology.
To that end, the White House and U.K. today announced several steps they will take to enhance coordination on cyber-security issues. That includes increased threat information sharing and joint cyber-security and network defense exercises, the first of which will focus on the financial sector.
Meanwhile, the U.K.'s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Security Service (MI5) will team with the NSA and FBI on a joint cyber cell, which will allow staff from each agency to be co-located for easier information sharing.
Finally, the U.S. and U.K. will fund a new Fulbright Cyber Security Award for up to six months of research. Applications will be accepted later this year for a 2016-17 session.
MIT has also invited the University of Cambridge to participate in a "Cambridge vs. Cambridge" cyber-security contest.