Congressman John Carter: ‘Cyber is just pounding me from every direction’

Texas representative John Carter, chairman of the subcommittee on Homeland Security appropriations, and who sits on various other defense-related subcommittees, is hearing about cyber a lot these days. As he put it, “cyber is just pounding me from every direction.” That’s just the first few seconds of the very entertaining video (above), where Carter tries to find the right words to express his concern over new encryption standards from Apple and others.

Thing is, as folksy as the language might come across, Carter’s addressing a very important cybersecurity issue. What does it mean if some of the biggest companies in the world create a system so secure not even they themselves can crack it? Should tech companies be legally required to provide law enforcement a backdoor for investigations? They’re serious issues... and they really are pounding us from every direction.

So if a phrase like “cyber is just pounding me from every direction” gets you to notice and care about this issue, then in some very bizarre way, the representative from Texas has done his job. He has also, presumably, given a few parody porn directors some terrible ideas.