Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is a sponsor of legislation to fund state efforts to fight cyber-crime. He views the FBI--with its responsibility for both domestic surveillance and foreign counterintelligence--as the logical agency to lead investigations of computer crimes, albeit with stronger congressional oversight. He advocates stringent rules for restricting Internet data taps, making them at least as restrictive as rules governing telephone wiretaps, which are a source of ongoing dispute between the FBI and telecommunications providers.
Karn said the slow-moving criminal justice approach is ill-suited to the pace of technological change. "The time can be better spent hardening our defenses," he said, if the government permits the industry to develop stronger encryption methods to keep out criminals and even law enforcement.
