US senator asks for encryption legislation to fight terrorism

In an editorial published by Bloomberg, the US senator John McCain calls for legislation that would require technology companies to design their technologies in such a way that they can comply with legal requests from authorities for access to content. McCain argues that terrorist and common criminals take advantage of available encryption technologies to achieve their goals ‘beyond the reach of intelligence agency tools and law enforcement capabilities’. He says that this situation is unacceptable and that the users’ rights to private communications must be balanced with concerns over national security.