Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is advocating for a federal legislation that will require tech companies to allow law enforcement agencies backdoor access to encrypted data that passes through their computer systems.

The debate about whether to give the government and law enforcement agencies access to encrypted user data has once again come to the public spotlight following the discovery that the perpetrators of the Paris attack may have used a secured messaging platform to communicate with each other.

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The proposal of District Attorney Vance hinges on whether to treat encryption as a means to secure user data or as a barrier to intelligence operations and criminal investigation.

For intelligence and government agencies, data encryption is a big hurdle that prohibits them from obtaining critical information that could help their investigations about certain high profile international criminals, according to Reuters.

United States chairman for Senate Intelligence Committee Dianne Feinstein told MSNBC that "If you create a product that allows evil monsters to communicate in this way, to behead children, to strike innocents - whether it's at a game in a stadium, in a small restaurant in Paris, take down an airline - that is a big problem."

On the other hand, tech giants from Silicon Valley claim that encrypting sensitive user data is essential in keeping the privacy of users as well as ensuring the integrity of the Internet.

Law enforcement agencies claim that new smartphone models like the Apple's iPhone and device running on the Google Android operating system often store user data that are essential in helping investigations. However, due to tight encryption protocols, the data cannot be accessed even with a search warrant.

Privacy groups, security researchers and tech companies have all showed support for strong data encryption. They claim that loosening these security protocols could expose users to data theft and other malicious attacks. Tech companies say that instead of allowing government agencies access to encrypted user data, they should focus on fixing the flawed system of intelligence gathering. 

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