Google, Amazon Urge Trump to Support Strong Encryption

Google, Amazon and a slew of top internet companies sent a letter today urging President-elect Donald Trump to support strong encryption and oppose calls for government backdoors into consumer technology.

The letter from the Internet Association also urges the incoming president to support further curbs on U.S. surveillance, among other priorities.

The letter strikes an upbeat and conciliatory tone despite the fact Trump opposed many of these priorities on the campaign trail. The letter cites Trump’s “use of the internet to connect with, and energize voters throughout the campaign” as evidence of the need for an open and unfettered internet.

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Trump opposes the end-to-end encryption systems favored by most internet companies. He sided with the Justice Department in a dispute in which Apple declined to build software to break the encryption protecting an iPhone used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook.

The Justice Department sued Apple in an effort to force the tech giant to unlock the phone but withdrew the suit when an unnamed third party sold the FBI a hacking took that accomplished the task.

Apple is not an Internet Association member.

“Laws that require companies to engineer vulnerabilities into products and services harm personal privacy and endanger national security,” the Internet Association letter states.

The letter also urges support for high-skilled immigration and patent reforms that would generally aid defendants in patent suits.

Other Internet Association members include Yahoo, Netflix and eBay.