Over the weekend, it was revealed that US President Barack Obama thinks that when the National Security Agency discovers major flaws in internet security, it should be allowed to exploit it if there’s a “a clear national security or law enforcement need”. The thinking has not been revealed by the White House publicly, but is said to have been discussed during the president’s recent considerations of NSA reform.
The comment was revealed to the New York Times by “senior administration officials” on Saturday. The story came to light following the White House’s denial on Friday that it had any prior knowledge of the Heartbleed bug.
The comment did, apparently, come on the back of a declaration that, for the most part, the NSA ought reveal them to ensure that they will be fixed sooner rather than later. But the most part isn’t perhaps quite good enough: when a security hole can affect all our digital lives, surely there must be no half measure? [New York Times]
Picture: AP