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SALT LAKE CITY – Data collection under the Patriot Act expired this week, but Washington is still calling on the tech industry to give it "backdoors" into encryption technology.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, misses data collection and its potential benefit in the war on terror.
"We've got to start doing things that repel and defeat these terrorists," he said.
Republicans are not alone. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., once voted to renew wiretapping.
But the founder of Utah internet service provider X-Mission said there's no proof of benefit.
"Show me the proof that all this giving up of our Constitutional protections have kept us safer," Pete Ashdown said. "They haven't been able to do that."
Ashdown acknowledges giving law enforcement backdoor keys to the encryption could help them in the fight against crime and terror.
"But inevitably, when they do something like that, criminals will use that key as well," Ashdown said.
John Mejia, ACLU of Utah Legal Director, said when people and businesses promise security and privacy for e-mail and e-commerce, "We have a real expectation that's happening."
Criminals count on that protection as well, according to Utah Public Safety Commissioner Keith Squires.
"Terrorists and criminal organizations are able to communicate back and forth without us being able to have visibility on it," he said.
Squires also said police don't necessarily need backdoors because they can already collect electronic evidence.
"It's all done under very controlled circumstances with checks and balances, and court orders that have to be scrutinized," he said.
The FBI has insisted backdoors are necessary. However, Mejia says they could violate the Fourth Amendment.
"It weakens our right to privacy from government intrusion, but it also weakens the Internet," Mejia said.
Utah Valley University Technology and Computing Dean Michael Savoie teaches his students it's a balancing act. Some want jobs in the private sector, but others in law enforcement.
"You have to understand a framework for ethical application of technology depending on the job you have," Savoie said, adding when we tip the scale to privacy, security suffers, and vice versa.
