Coalition of big US tech firms opposes weaker encryption and back doors in order to protect consumers

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) which represents more than 60 major technology firms, including Google, Apple and Facebook, wrote an open letter to US President Barack Obama opposing any measures undermining the use of encyption in technology. Industry argues that weakening encryption and introducing backdoors would leaver consumers vulnerable to be exploited by criminals. They emphasised the need for encryption to protect consumers’ privacy and data and urged Obama to find a way of working with industry to “perserve security, privacy and innovation”.