Supreme Court says White House may continue requests to tech companies

to drop encryption

The US Supreme Court has ruled that the White House is allowed to request that tech companies drop or alter encryption on their products in order to aid criminal investigations. The 9-0 ruling is not expected to become law, however, as Congress is unlikely to pass legislation to enforce such requests. The ruling comes in response to Apple’s refusal to unlock an iPhone belonging to a terrorist in 2015 following an earlier White House request. The Supreme Court decision stated that the executive branch of the government can make such requests but that such requests are not mandatory and can be appealed to a judge.