Petition: Act Now To Save Crypto

i2Coalition Joins 18 Civil Society and Business Groups in Call for President Obama to Defend Strong Encryption.

Today, nonprofit organizations teamed up with Internet companies to urge President Obama to take a stand on behalf of digital safety and security. The i2Coalition, Access,​ EFF, and 16 other civil society and business groups​ filed a “We the People” petition asking President Obama to publicly affirm support for “strong encryption,” and to “reject any law, policy, or mandate that would undermine our security.” The petition is hosted at www.SaveCrypto.org.​

“The Internet’s infrastructure is the heart of today’s economy,” said Christian Dawson, Chair and Co-Founder of i2Coalition. “What is commonly referred to as the ‘cloud’ has already had its credibility compromised by very public hacks and what has been seen as dramatic government overreach on data gathering. The last thing our economy needs is another tool that undermines consumer faith in the cloud.”

Partners include: Access, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), American Library Association (ALA) , Computer and Communication Industry Association (CCIA), Demand Progress, Dropbox, DuckDuckGo, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Fight for the Future, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Free Press, Human Rights Watch, the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition), New America’s Open Technology Institute, Niskanen Center, Sonic, Taskforce, TechFreedom and Twitter.

“The government should be in the business of facilitating the trust consumers have in the services and products they use and buy online, not undermining it,” said David Snead, Co-Founder of i2Coalition. “The i2Coalition is calling on President Obama to stand up for uncompromised security that both businesses and consumers demand.”

Safety and privacy depend on secure communications tools and technologies like encryption. Encryption protects our conversations and our transactions. According to the National Security Council,​ supporting encryption will “[ensure] the greatest technical security,” “benefit global cybersecurity,” and “limit repressive regimes’ willingness to demand access to encrypted information.” It will also ensure that companies are able to offer new and innovative products and services.

“We the People” is a website built by the Obama Administration to allow people to voice their opinions on issues of public policy. The White House has committed to responding within 30 days to any petition that obtains 100,000 signatures.