Groups representing law enforcement and the technology sector are increasingly sparring over access to data on personal devices, which government officials say could be crucial to fighting crime and preventing terrorist attacks, the New York Times reported Sunday.

At issue is the encryption that companies like Apple use to protect personal data on smartphones and other devices. In a string of recent meetings with Congress, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance told lawmakers his office has possession of 230 iPhones that could be crucial to solving cases, but can't access because Apple refused to break the encryption.

A bill introduced last month in the U.S. Senate would require tech companies to unlock encrypted data if law enforcement first obtained a court order. Tech companies and their associations launched a blitzkrieg campaign against the legislation, flooding congressional offices with concerns about the proposed law's effects on consumer privacy.

"There's no question our relationship with the tech industry has gotten worse, and now it seems like the tech industry is taking every opportunity they have to put up obstacles in our way, including trying to derail legislative efforts that would give law enforcement what they need to keep people safe," Terrence Cunningham, president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, told the newspaper.

The Consumer Technology Association is among the critics of efforts to force companies to break encryption. Association CEO Gary Shapiro called the Senate bill "dangerously overreaching and technically unsophisticated."

"This bill would essentially make effective cybersecurity illegal in the United States, pushing companies that take cybersecurity seriously offshore," he said.

So far, few lawmakers have weighed in on the legislation, the Times reported. http://nyti.ms/1SYII2w

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