President Trump is reportedly finalizing an executive order that would force major tech firms to embed law-enforcement backdoors into consumer-grade encryption tools. The draft would require companies to provide decryption keys to authorized agencies on demand, eroding the safeguards that protect private messages and stored data. 

It also calls for unprecedented cross-agency data sharing, mandating “unfettered access” to unclassified records held by state and local programs. 

Privacy experts warn this could weaken online security and prompt a renewed surge in VPN use, much like the spike seen after the recent TikTok ban. read more...