Encryption cleared: Paris attacks.

• Author: Shackford, Scott
• Position: Citings - Government access to encryption information for investigation of the France terrorist attack - Brief article

ALMOST IMMEDIATELY after Islamic State terrorists struck Paris in November, killing 130, some American intelligence officials and surveillance supporters tried to lay blame on efforts to restrict the amount of private information the government could collect, and on the unwillingness of online companies to provide encryption "back doors" allowing government access.

CIA Director John Brennan said he hoped the massacres would be a "wake-up call" for European countries, blaming Edward Snowden's "unauthorized disclosures" for scaled-back snooping. New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton fretted about terrorists "going dark," using encrypted digital communication to defeat government surveillance tools.

But the USA FREEDOM Act restricted only the gathering of phone metadata from American citizens on...