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Yeah, but if you read closely their speeches, they're trying to paint this as if we shouldn't benefit from "warrantproof encryption" or be able to "resist a war
by mtgx 7y ago
Yeah, but if you read closely their speeches, they're trying to paint this as if we shouldn't benefit from "warrantproof encryption" or be able to "resist a warrant".
Leaving the technical details aside such as the fact that it's not possible to have a "secure backdoor" that won't ultimately be used by the (other) "bad guys", this is important because they make it seem as if this is the only way they'd ever use this power -- with a warrant.
And THAT is beyond FALSE and a BIG FAT LIE, and they know it. Watch Bush's speech about the Patriot Act when he signed it. He said the bill will be used to "read the terrorists' emails" and other digital communications. Now we know that in 97-99% of the cases, the Patriot Act is used for crimes other than terrorism, usually drug related. But the FBI also absolutely loves to abuse the National Security Letters for at least half of their data requests to big data companies. And the best part is those come with gag orders so the public will almost never find out about those requests.
Worse yet, since these were past, these powers were further expanded, usually days before Christmas, so now the FBI gets access to RAW internet data just like only the NSA did previously. So does DEA, and about 15 other agencies. No warrant needed, for just about any crime they'd like to investigate.
And you can bet this is their plan with the encryption backdoors, too. I guarantee it. They'll continue to talk in public about warrants and how they will only use it with a warrant, and then somehow the bill will be written to include all sorts of ways for them to access the encrypted data WITHOUT a warrant.
Even when the criticism against a surveillance bill is very strong, they still somehow end-up "compromising" by only getting warrantless access in "emergency situations" (where emergency isn't defined too specifically) or for "serious crimes" (often not well defined in the bill either). Or they manage to sneak a serious crimes "and other type of crimes" in there, too, as they've done in some bills in the past.
So let's not be naive with the whole "warrantproof" talking point. They're trying to distract and mislead us. Ultimately, even if the bill is very specific about a warrant, they just know they can expand it later after one or two renewals, as they've done with FISA 702 to now give other federal agencies much of the same data access NSA gets, even though that wasn't supposed to be the original plan at all.
- javajosh 7y agoIn fairness, I think we want a panopticon. We just want to intentionally blind it when it comes to us; however, if there is evidence of a crime, I'm okay with accessing normally forbidden parts of the panopticon to find the wrong-doer. But yeah, they reach for too much power almost reflexively. IMHO every time law enforcement asks for more power, the people should be reflexively skeptical, even derisive. Tell me, are local police so bad at their job that they need these superpowers? This level of surveillance is akin to a WMD. They just don't need it and shouldn't get it, and should get punished (e.g. fired) for asking for it.