Thread: Backdoor All The Things!

O_o

Not a fan: Putin Says All Encryption Must Be Backdoored In Two Weeks | Techdirt

Soma

This is the only response that order deserves and that it'll get:

Originally Posted by Rapnel

Sorry, haven't quite read the piece yet, but....

Ahhhh-hah-hah-hah-hah-hah-haaah-ha-heh-hoo-hoo-hehh. gasp.

omfg, it hurts a little..

Wonder if we'll see services leaving Russia en-masse? They're shooting themselves in the leg here. The reactions should be interesting to see...

The new “anti-terrorist” laws require all “organizers of information distribution” that add “additional coding” to transmitted electronic messages to provide the FSB with any information necessary to decrypt those messages.

That to me spells like, criminals will love this. And non-criminals will have in here a real incentive to become one.
The icing on the cake of a society that has just lost all hope to privacy or security is a rise in criminality.

Those politicians sure like the back door...

O_o

More of a sad: UK gov says new Home Sec will have powers to ban end-to-end encryption • The Register

I'm beginning to think I've managed to overestimate the intelligence of politicians.

Soma

Indeed. The terrorists are the smart ones here; they really are making the life in the West miserable. Congratulations!

But this is one of the fallouts of the brexit. This is one of the laws that was not possible to pass if UK had remained a member of the EU. Enjoy your independence.

I wonder how they're going to manage this in any meaningful way.

O_o

The easiest way is brute force.

I don't mean algorithms... I mean the political equivalent of a pipe to the knees.

To me it's kinda like trying to get toothpaste back in its tube.

Retubing toothpaste would be extraordinarily simple by comparison.

The toothpaste would not fight back with subterfuge and disobedience.

Soma

Originally Posted by phantomotap

The toothpaste would not fight back with subterfuge and disobedience.

Having tried to get toothpaste back into the tube, I beg to differ.

Good ole uncle sam getting in on the act as well.
FBI says its malware isn't malware because 'we're the good guys' | ZDNet

Originally Posted by whiteflags

I wonder how they're going to manage this in any meaningful way. To me it's kinda like trying to get toothpaste back in its tube. Strong encryption exists and it's not like it can go away. We know how to do it and its backbone is one-way mathematics. Encryption algorithms get old, not its principles.

That's been on my mind too. But I think the play here is different.
A ban on encryption is not the objective. What governments are wanting to do is to ensure a select and representative group of top service providers and manufacturers to become accessible to them, providing them a measure of control. Those others living on the fringes, offering strong point-to-point encryption, will always get some manner of pressure but will not become primary targets of backdoor enforcement until they grow to the size of a business that needs to provide the government that control.

Whether they will succeed is something that troubles me. I think in the end they will, because societies tend to numb down their reaction and lose the ability to complain and demand as a block, when changes are made progressively and in such a way that each steps doesn't disturb to much. That's how you eventually move from a free state to a police state with the blessing of your people.

Another aspect that troubles me greatly is how much of this can be done behind closed doors in private and secret agreements, without the knowledge of consumers. The technology itself and the way it must be managed,makes it very hard for a large company to hide it is collaborating with secret services or providing encryption keys. But the very nature of that participation, means there's very few people involved and there's numerous ways a company can PR their way out of it, making whistleblowing difficult and ineffective, while always providing companies a measure of reasonable doubt. This reasonable doubt is the only weapon they need, considering how consumers seem to be addicted to technological products and services, forming even strong opinions and preferences among them.

It's likely to me that governments will not stop in this quest of theirs. And we will be progressively be pushed down that road. Eventually a marginal culture will emerge with solutions that will allow individuals to move underground. And the public, controlled and supervised internet will share its space with the underground internet.