Has the NSA Won the Crypto Wars?

Until recently, many people believed that the so-called “Crypto Wars” were over and that the U.S. government supported strong encryption for the public. Now new leaks allege that the NSA has deliberately introduced weaknesses and backdoors into commercial products and security standards. These revelations may have substantive and long-lasting consequences on the reputations of U.S. tech companies. In addition, these claims may significantly weaken the effectiveness of the federal government in helping improve cyber security in commercial products, both domestically and internationally. This event will explore how these most recent claims relate to past debates about cryptography, such as the Clipper Chip debate of the 1990s, the lessons that policymakers should take from these past debates, the impact that these allegations might have on the tech industry, and the implications that this news has for consumers and businesses.