The Obama administration has announced that it will not be pursuing legislation to force tech companies to introduce encryption backdoors.

National Security Council spokesman Mark Stroh said:

As the president has said, the United States will work to ensure that malicious actors can be held to account — without weakening our commitment to strong encryption. As part of those efforts, we are actively engaged with private companies to ensure they understand the public safety and national security risks that result from malicious actors’ use of their encrypted products and services.

The announcement came in the same week that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales called the British Prime Minister’s anti-encryption rhetoric “moronic” .

It’s too late, David. …The genie is out of the bottle. …It is not feasible in any sense of the word for the UK to ban end-to-end encryption. It’s a completely moronic and stupid thing to do. We all have a very strong interest in a safe and secure internet.
— Jimmy Wales, speaking at IP Expo

For more information, see: Obama Administration Not Pursuing a Backdoor to Commercial Encryption – Schneier on Security