Obama will meet with tech leaders to discuss cybersecurity

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published 13 February 2015

On Friday, President Obama will visit Stanford University to meet with leaders from America's top tech companies, and they will discuss cybersecurity and hacking. Obama is expected to issue an executive order Friday encouraging businesses to share information with the government.

The Stanford meeting comes as Obama has increased government attempts to stop companies from strengthening encryption in their products, which makes it more difficult for police and government agencies to access the systems. Companies such as Apple and Google have resisted the Obama administration's efforts to stop them from strengthening the encryption in iPhones and Android phones.

Some experts, though, are concerned the meeting won't address the underlying issue, the "estrangement between Silicon Valley and the government," The New York Times reports. "What has struck me is the enormous degree of hostility between Silicon Valley and the government," Herb Lin, who worked with cyberissues at the National Academy of Sciences for 20 years and recently moved to Stanford, told the Times. "The relationship has been poisoned, and it’s not going to recover anytime soon."