‘No such thing as absolute privacy in America’: FBI Director James Comey

FBI Director James Comey has given a keynote speech at a prestgious cybersecurty conference in Boston, in which he warned United States citizens that they should not expect “absolute privacy” in their lives.

“If you’re not sharing information with us, you’ll be sorry”, he said, “because the threat will never go away”. Comey made a plea to the tech community to enable authorities to access encrypted data on devices and communications apps. Now, he said, it is used by drug dealers and other lower-end criminals.

Bruce Schneier, a security author and widely regarded expert on cryptography, said that both the Shadow Brokers incident and the recent release of Central Intelligence Agency files demonstrates the government’s inability to keep things secret.

Comey says that a Judge has a legal right, “in appropriate circumstances”, to compel any American of their communications, even through their electronic devices.

An afternoon recap of the day’s most important business news, delivered weekdays.

“You’re stuck with me for about another 6 1/2 years, and so I’d love to be invited back again”, he boasted.

His comments came soon after the Wikileaks released documents claiming to have exposed the Central Intelligence Agency’s “global covert hacking program”.

Comey, who was the subject of new intrigue after President Trump sent out a flurry of unsubstantiated weekend tweets accusing President Obama of having his phones tapped, revealed his plans at a conference on cybersecurity.

He did not address his reported request for the Justice Department to issue a statement refuting President Trump’s assertion that his campaign had been wiretapped by former President Obama, nor the unfolding probe into Russian hacking of political targets during the election.

Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey had a few harsh words about privacy rights in the United States this week which will likely have the more libertarian leaning among us up in arms. That is something we need to talk about. “It also runs the risk of creating confusion in a crowded space”.

“We all value privacy”.

Comey also highlighted a distinction between traditional cyber espionage and corporate theft.

Nation states, spies, and sophisticated criminals have always been able to hide behind encryption.

“The FBI is an addictive life”, said Comey, who said the agency is trying to be a “little cooler”.