Lawmaker Wants Congress to Tackle Smartphone Encryption

A senior U.S. lawmaker expressed a new willingness to support legislation establishing ground rules for when technology firms should grant authorities access to their products, after Apple Inc. said it would fight a court order to unlock an iPhone linked to the San Bernardino rampage. Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives' Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that the "complex issues" raised by the Apple case, as well as the prevalence of strongly encrypted devices and communications, "will ultimately need to be resolved by Congress, the administration and industry, rather than the courts alone."