House bill would prevent patchwork of state laws banning smartphone encryption

Four bipartisan members of Congress introduced legislation this week to preempt a potential patchwork of state and local government laws banning encryption on smartphones.

The measure, called the ENCRYPT (Ensuring National Constitutional Rights for Your Private Telecommunications) Act of 2016, is intended to ensure a uniform national policy for encryption technology, according to a statement from the lawmakers.

U.S. Rep. Ted W. Lieu (D-Calif.), joined Reps. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), (Suzan DelBene, D-Wash.) and Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) in sponsoring the measure.

The lawmakers are worried initially about bills sponsored by state legislators in California and New York that would ban encryption on any smartphone sold in their states.

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