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I changed my mind. I was in the corner where I was against all forms of backdoors, but Obama convincd me that there are circumstances that one wants to break en
by mhkool 11y ago
I changed my mind. I was in the corner where I was against all forms of backdoors, but Obama convincd me that there are circumstances that one wants to break encryption. Any governement can ask a judge for a house search warrant if there is good reason to it. We do this for rapists, child pron and in lots of other circumstances. This is the good side of law and order.
So we need to rethink the current situation. The point is that the current proposal is insane. A master key to a backdoor for the US government (not other governments) is a bad idea for many reasons. So are there better alternatives?
Of course there are and I think that we should look at the best alternative such that we keep our privacy AND police can ask a judge to break encryption of a phone or any storage device.
The first and obvious problem is how to break encryption. One could look into a system where the 'backdoor' needs three keys to open; one from a government, one from the supplier and one from a 'independent' agency (I do not present details here, I merely want to show that there may be alternatives looking at). A 3-key backdoor may work and break encyption on phones of rapists, terrorists and suspects of other crimes. Note that every request of the FBI and other agencies will have to go through a public court.
The second problem that I see is the secret orders in the US. There are no guarantees against unlawful behaviour of government agencies if the secret courts continue to exist. One can only have enough privacy if one can defend itself in a public court and the actions of governments are transparent. This is maybe the largest problem to overcome since the US government agencies like their secret powers (too) much. I think that the public cry for encryption and privacy is a reaction to the secret powers of the agencies. One can argue that Apple has enough of the secret powers and choose the path of unbreakable iphones because of this. So if these agencies cannot give gag orders to companies and cannot give secret orders to hand over data about individuals, the public might accept a 3-key backdoor.
- therealmarv 11y agoFirst I thought: Not bad idea, I may agree. Then I thought: backdoors are backdoors are backdoors. I think the problem is that there is nothing like a very very secured backdoor. I don't know if something like a 3 key backdoor is even possible technologically. Another thought: There is not only the USA. Phones are used everywhere in the world. What about a search warrant in another country? What if other countries use this backdoors for other things? Last personal thought: I'm not living in the USA and I fear this government will not do any good things for myself (especially since Snowden). A backdoor mostly in US hands is a very bad thing for me and I would not use products which such a US backdoor.
- Freak_NL 11y agoI think your standpoint may well be what the majority considers reasonable, but consider this; nothing stops a criminal from using encryption technology without backdoors. There is no way to ban such technology, because it is already available for free from websites all around the globe, and distributed with free operating systems. So what you end up with is a gimped encryption technology that is much more vulnerable than what we have now for the common man, and strong encryption (available for free, right now) for everyone with a modicum of know-how. And how would you implement a global three-key backdoor? Which governments get to participate? Or should each country get their own backdoor for computing devices sold locally? Can I legally buy a computing device from another country and use it here? Can I legally install software of my own choosing?
- toufka 11y agoWhat about when via #2, the government covertly works its way up to obtaining the 3rd party's key? With a 3-party system you now have targets for the biggest party to go after. If the US gov gets BigTechSoft's key, then the whole scheme fails. The NSA (gov) has been found doing exactly that already. Back to single point of trust/failure.
- fredgrott 11y agogiven US gov's past 50 record of fucking up security every single time how can you even think this?Its like giving a mentally challenged person a loaded revolver and expecting safe things to happen