As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between privacy, security

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by lotuseclat79, Apr 14, 2015.

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  1. lotuseclat79

    lotuseclat79 Registered Member

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    As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between privacy, security.

    Reference: NSA declares war on general purpose computers.

    Note: The above reference link shows a great diagram of Techniques being considered which highlights Encryption using 'key escrow' vs Encryption using 'split keys' or 'secret sharing' and who can access the secrets (FBI, User, Apple).

    Related: NSA dreams of smartphones with “split” crypto keys protecting user data

    -- Tom
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2015
  2. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    "a tense stand-off between US government and tech industry"

    Says it all really - not a hint of any users, customers, real people. Nor of non-US people (if they can call themselves that).

    I'd quite like them to go for the silly key escrow or dual key approaches, so that independent strong encryption will then flourish. No global business with any sense of data protection responsibilities, fiducial duty to their shareholders, or the sanity of their customer base would use stuff that US LEA (with or without the co-operation of US companies) could read automatically.

    The sad thing is that the necessity for all this encryption by joe public has been created by the secret, unlawful and megalomaniac collect-it-all attitude of the authorities, and the complete absence of any meaningful legislative response.
     
  3. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Unless they can get global cooperation, which is highly unlikely, they'll just kill off US-based cloud providers. They'll need a solid national firewall too, like China. It's doable, for sure. But it would be sad.
     
  4. driekus

    driekus Registered Member

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    I really dont get what the problem is. 99% of people set really bad passwords that can be brute forced in seconds. Why do they need a backdoor?
    All this is really doing is hurting US companies. A lot of companies (ours included) are either explicitly barring companies from the US or eliminating them from tenders.
     
  5. deBoetie

    deBoetie Registered Member

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    Not only the cloud providers - all tech vendors would be (are!) suspect.

    National firewalls are already starting in a creeping way - e.g. the DNS filtering by UK ISPs, take-downs of sites without judicial oversight, and I think you're right to identify this as a real probability (my guess is it will happen inside 4 years, but they will call them something different). The Balkanization of the internet is inevitable if you can't even agree decent standards of behavior (legal and constitutional) in a single country, let alone expecting mutual cooperation between countries (although I expect the US to impose firewall regimes on its satellites). After all, Obama says the US has to defend against "hackers" as a matter of national emergency, so it's clearly "necessary" to filter traffic at borders..... It's way too hard to make the clients more secure after all.

    Desperate thrashing of failed nation states.

    As you say, sad.
     
  6. quietman

    quietman Registered Member

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    " They " need backdoors for these reasons :-

    For that crucial 1% who do set really strong passwords .

    For those people who have mentally "drawn a line in the sand " to defend their right to privacy , against agencies and companies
    who clearly believe that they have a right to all data on the planet , without limit , regulation or supervision , and accountable to nobody.

    In short .... for people like us !

    That's why " they " want , and need backdoors .
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2015
  7. RockLobster

    RockLobster Registered Member

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    If they are not stopped the NSA will turn America into something like a cold war communist state. Everyone looking over their shoulder for the secret police.
     
  8. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    We have cameras and microphones everywhere already, soon to come the thought police o_O;)
     
  9. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    Good luck with that. It's already happened. Most people are either blinded by the governments rhetoric or choose not to see it. Most of the people outside of the US and its close allies see it all too well. Cold war communist state is the wrong comparison. Think in terms of another nation whose government seized massive power as part of a war on terrorism, one that was destroyed by the combined armies of the rest of the world.
     
  10. RockLobster

    RockLobster Registered Member

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    Yes I believe your comparison is more accurate than mine and I think it runs deeper than just the war on terrorism.
     
  11. noone_particular

    noone_particular Registered Member

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    When one looks at the targets of their surveillance, everything from relief and human rights groups to foreign corporations, it becomes clear that they are defining terrorism differently than we would. They're defining terrorism as anything that threatens the status quo and anything that threatens the profits and power of the global corporations that control the government. The "Occupy Wall Street" protesters were classified as terrorists, as were those who hacked Sony Pictures. Look back through the last 10 years and take note of those they've applied the terrorist or terrorist supporter labels to. Few if any represent any real threat to this nation. Most of the "threats" were to corporate profits and control. That tells you which "nation" they're protecting, and it's not the average citizen.
     
  12. Socio

    Socio Registered Member

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    Agree it is already impossible to know who has or has not been compromised by the NSA from operating systems, to browsers, to VPNs to hardware and everything in between.

    So the end user has been left no choice to pile on security measures, seek stronger and stronger versions, creating an anti-spy security software and hardware boom and the ones that are complaining about it are the very ones that caused it with their massive spying overreach, that would be the NSA.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2015
  13. Socio

    Socio Registered Member

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    Virtually anyone that is concerned with privacy is a target of their surveillance now; remember this story;

    http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/priv...ou-are-an-extremist-if-you-care-about-privacy

    Even more worrisome than the corporate power angle is the political groups, conservative groups in particular, spied on for political gain by the opposing party in power.
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2015
  14. RockLobster

    RockLobster Registered Member

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    "Within four weeks of the terrorist attack, the nation’s now-popular leader had pushed through legislation, in the name of combating terrorism and fighting the philosophy he said spawned it, that suspended constitutional guarantees of free speech, privacy, and habeas corpus. Police could now intercept mail and wiretap phones; suspected terrorists could be imprisoned without specific charges and without access to their lawyers;"

    From an article about Adolf Hitlers "war on terrorism" in 1933. Sounds familiar though huh ..
     
  15. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    https://www.wilderssecurity.com/help/terms
     
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