Congress to hear testimony on encryption from Apple and FBI on March 1

The Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives will hear testimony regarding phone encryption case between the FBI and Apple on Tuesday, March 1. The hearing is entitled The Encryption Tightrope: Balancing American's Security and Privacy, and will take place at 1:00 p.m. EST.

According to the Judiciary Committee, the hearing will have two panels. Panel 1 will feature FBI Director James Comey as its witness, while witnesses for Panel 2 will include Apple General Counsel and Senior Vice President Bruce Sewell, Susan Landau, a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the District Attorney for New York County.

This hearing will come just two weeks after Apple publicly opposed a court order compelling the company to help the FBI unlock the iPhone 5c used by one of the San Bernardino shooting suspects. Apple feels the court order sets a dangerous precedent that could lead to similar requests in the future from both the U.S. government and others around the world, compromising the security of the company's customers.