Australia: Microsoft Windows thwarts police efforts to cut child porn

[lordpake]

The much lauded latest Microsoft Windows operating system could make it harder for police to prosecute child pornography suspects, experts warn.

The hi-tech encryption available on the new Windows 7 could enable criminals to bury pornographic images and files deep in their computer systems, making it impossible for police to uncover the evidence.

Source: The Courier-Mail

Right Aren't they a bit late? I thought BitLocker was introduced with Windows Vista. Not to mention there are other encryption methods available too ...

[TOMxEU]

It is not about porno, it i about big brother being angry, because NSA servers will have to be working overtime again. In my country, there is going to be a law prohibiting using a proxy and being anonoymous on forums for the same reasons, the question is who is worse, government or criminals? Will it help at all?

[funkydude]

I'd say it's more Australia trying to cash in on Microsoft like Europe are rather than anything to do with NSA :p

[chronomatic]

"If this new product gives paedophiles protection to keep harming children I would be extremely disappointed. I would expect the company to take moves to rectify this."

What makes her think M$ already hasn't rectified this problem? Does anyone remember the _NSAKEY fiasco? I don't know whether M$ puts a backdoor into BitLocker or not, but I would not be surprised in the least if they did (as the _NSAKEY fiasco suggests). Either way, if the code was open it could be audited by third parties for any funny business. This is why closed-source encryption = fail.

[noone_particular]

That excuse is going to be used to give authorities access to everything that everyone has. Any provision that's added to Windows that allows law enforcement to defeat the encryption will end up in the hands of criminals and hackers as well, and make it completely worthless. The "child porn" argument is their way of manipulating people into giving up what privacy they have left. You can't ban everything that can be used for criminal purposes. Everything can be.

[arran]

I was wondering about the encryption on windows 7. I was thinking maybe it is a trap for criminals and that maybe microsoft has provided law enforcers a back door?

either way I'm staying with true crypt.

Originally Posted by TOMxEU

In my country, there is going to be a law prohibiting using a proxy and being anonoymous on forums for the same reasons

can I ask what country you are from?

[NICK ADSL UK]

Originally Posted by arran

I was wondering about the encryption on windows 7. I was thinking maybe it is a trap for criminals and that maybe microsoft has provided law enforcers a back door?

either way I'm staying with true crypt.




can I ask what country you are from?

can I ask what country you are from

hi Arran TOMxEU is from Slovakia

[TOMxEU]

Great Britain is going to do even better/worse. It wants a law, which will literally spy on people on the internet, ISP will have to store all private information for a year in their database. They will have to store emails, VOIP, what webpages people visit and so on. Of course, it is for a good reason, to prevent terorism.