ACLU argues for encrypted calls, texts on Capitol Hill

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) thinks Capitol Hill staffers should be able to make encrypted calls and send secure text messages.

Cellular networks are notoriously insecure, the advocacy group noted in a letter sent Tuesday to the House and Senate sergeants at arms. This makes calls and texts “trivially easy” to intercept, added ACLU Principal Technologist Chris Soghoian in a blog post.

{mosads}In order for Congress to properly function, the ACLU wrote, it needs to have closed-door communications safe from the prying eyes of foreign governments and other branches of government.

“Ensuring the security of Congressional communications against all interception,” the letter said, “would promote both basic liberty interests and national security.”

“Congress’ ability to exercise that oversight function,” it added, “is only as robust as its independence from interference by other elements of the government, and its insulation from influence by bad actors outside government.”

The ACLU pointed to the recent controversial CIA torture report, an investigation led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) into the intelligence agency’s practices. During the report’s research phase, CIA employees searched through a computer drive that had been set up exclusively for Senate staffers.

“One key lesson” from this instance, the letter said, “is that secure communications facilities preserve effective checks and balances in constitutional government, and insecure facilities threaten them.”

The recent hacks at the Office of Personnel Management, which compromised over 22 million people’s most sensitive data, is yet another example that made the need for encrypted communications “starkly clear,” the ACLU wrote.

The letter suggests a number of smartphone apps, such as Signal and WhatsApp, that can lock down audio and text communications.

“These apps do not rely on the weak encryption provided by cellular networks for their security, but instead use modern, strong encryption to protect their customers’ communications,” the organization said.