Tech advocates look to target Intel chairman’s reelection bid

Digital rights activists are urging the tech industry to help defeat Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who is running for reelection.

“[Donald] Trump’s win endangers GOP Senators. America’s tech community should rally to defeat Richard Burr, for his idiotic war on Internet security,” tweeted Andrew McLaughlin, a former White House technology official and current head of the content platform Medium.

{mosads}“It’s time for an all-out frontal assault on Sen. Burr’s campaign from the tech community,” tweeted Amie Stepanovich, policy manager for the digital rights group Access Now.

But what, exactly, that effort might entail is still up in the air, Stepanovich told The Hill.

“The idea that this is a race that tech can get involved in is very new. I think people are just feeling out the extent to which it’s feasible to be active and the resources that are available,” Stepanovich said, noting that she is “talking to people” about the possibility of a campaign.

She was careful not to overstate their efforts.

“[This idea] is only about 40 hours old,” she said.

Access Now — which is a nonprofit — will not be participating, she also stressed. Other tech advocacy organizations echoed her position.

“[New America’s Open Technology Institute] does not take positions on candidates for elected office, but we hope that whoever is elected to the North Carolina Senate seat will have a good understanding of the important role that encryption plays in our society,” said policy counsel Robyn Greene.

Burr, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has been under fierce fire from the technology community for a controversial encryption proposal he has been circulating with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the panel’s ranking member.

The draft legislation would force companies to provide “technical assistance” to government investigators seeking locked data.

The move is a response to concerns that criminals are increasingly using encrypted technology to hide from authorities, but it has drawn unmitigated ire from tech and civil liberties organizations, who warn that it would undermine security and endanger online privacy.

“There is a lot of anger at Sen. Burr over his draft bill with Sen. Feinstein and the risk that it poses to the tech community, both from an economic perspective as well as from a human rights, user-safety perspective,” Stepanovich said.

Burr faces off against Democratic former state assembly member Deborah Ross in an unexpectedly close race. He leads Ross by just 4 points — 40-36 — according to an April 27 Public Policy Polling poll.

One reason he may be vulnerable: Although North Carolina still leans Republican, it has trended Democratic in recent years due to demographic changes.

“Tech could get engaged and throw in some money, but he probably might lose otherwise,” said one consultant tracking the race.