GOP House Homeland Security Committee Encryption Report Favors McCaul-Warner Commission

A House Homeland Security Committee Republican staff report released Wednesday advances the creation of a National Commission on Security and Technology Challenges (NCSTC) proposed by committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., as a “third way” of addressing the encryption debate. It doesn't favor the staunchest advocates of either strong encryption practices or government back doors to consumers' digital data. McCaul and Warner proposed creating the commission in February via the Digital Security Commission Act (HR-4651/S-2604), which would give the commission the job of issuing an interim report within six months of the bill's enactment (see 1602290074 and 1603090086). The commission would “bring together experts from each of the key areas -- cryptology, global commerce and economics, federal, State and local law enforcement, the technology sector, the Intelligence Community, and the privacy and civil liberties community,” said House Homeland Security Republicans in the report. “The Commission would be charged with analyzing digital security challenges, including encryption, and developing recommendations for Congress to chart a course forward.” The proposal for the NCSTC “recognizes that equities on all sides of the encryption debate should be taken into consideration,” House Homeland Security Republicans said. The report referenced two other bills aimed at the encryption debate -- the Ensuring National Constitutional Rights for Your Private Telecommunications (Encrypt) Act (HR-4528) and the draft Compliance with Court Orders Act. HR-4528, bowed by Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., would pre-empt states and localities from banning encryption on smartphones sold within their borders (see 1602100051). The Compliance with Court Orders Act would require providers of electronic communications, storage or processing services, and software or hardware manufacturers to comply with court orders to decrypt encrypted data of its users (see 1604130061).