

Rep John Carter [R-TX] chairs Homeland Security Appropriations and sits on Defense subcommittees, but he only found out that encryption exists when FBI Director James Comey gave bizarre congressional testimony about the coming Bad Times if we're allowed to know about math.

Carter rewarded Comey's testimony with an unbelievable, pig-ignorant, rambling statement about how alarmed he is to learn that there's some magical way to make phones impervious to search warrants. It's a genuine Ted Stevens/Series of Tubes moment.

Every time I hear something, or something just pops in my head — because I don't know anything about this stuff. If they can do that to a cell phone why can't they do that to every computer in the country, and nobody can get into it? …If they, at their own will at Microsoft can put something in a computer — or at Apple — can put something in that computer [points on a smartphone], which it is, to where nobody but that owner can open it, then why can't they put it in the big giant super computers, that nobody but that owner can open it. And everything gets locked away secretly. …This is a problem that's gotta be solved.

Congressional Rep. John Carter Discovers Encryption; Worries It May One Day Be Used On Computers To Protect Your Data [Mike Masnick/Techdirt]