Leaked US draft legislation on encryption said to be dangerous

A leaked version of a draft bill prepared by US Senators Dianne Feinstein and Richard Burr would require technology companies to assist governmental authorities in accessing their clients’ data. This should be done either by providing the requested data directly, or by offering ‘technical assistance as is necessary to obtain such information in an intelligible format or to achieve the purpose of the court order’. Although the draft is not particularly explicit on how such technical assistance should be provided, it is argued that he only way to comply with such legislation would be by introducing backdoors in encryption products.