Re/Code’s Kara Swisher talks with Barack Obama about encryption becoming a default

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Where there is a situation in which we’re trying to get a specific case of a possible national security threat — is there a way of accessing it? If it turns out it’s not, then we’re really gonna have to have a public debate. And, you know, I think some in Silicon Valley would make the argument — which is a fair argument, and I get — that the harms done by having any kind of compromised encryption are far greater …

KARA SWISHER: That’s an argument you used to make.

BARACK OBAMA: Well …

KARA SWISHER: You would have made. Has something changed with…

BARACK OBAMA: No, I still make it. It’s just that I am sympathetic to law enforcement.

KARA SWISHER: Because years [ago], you were much stronger on civil liberty.

BARACK OBAMA: I’m as strong as I have been. I think the only concern is our law enforcement is expected to stop every plot. Every attack. Any bomb on a plane. The first time that attack takes place in which it turns out that we had a lead and we couldn’t follow up on it, the public’s going to demand answers.

— Re/Code’s Kara Swisher talks with Barack Obama about encryption becoming a default (Dialogue from the full transcript of their conversation).

Andrew Villeneuve

Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, as well as the founder of NPI's sibling, the Northwest Progressive Foundation. He has worked to advance progressive causes for over two decades as a strategist, speaker, author, and organizer. Andrew is also a cybersecurity expert, a veteran facilitator, a delegate to the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.

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