4 ms·

I want to also give some perspective why this is bad even IF we can make sure that only governments will have the keys. We have just uncovered an organized crim

I want to also give some perspective why this is bad even IF we can make sure that only governments will have the keys. We have just uncovered an organized crime at the top levels in Slovakia where even the President of police is part of it and they influenced many court cases and were accessing secret information and databases on citizens, basically a mafia. And we are part of EU. I don't trust our goverment to use they keys only for good purpose. And I speak from the recent experience.

dane-pgp 6y ago
Another way of determining whether these proposals past the "smell test" is to ask how politicians treat legitimate requests for access to their communications (carried out as part of their jobs, which we pay them for) in response to Freedom Of Information requests. An example[0] from 2012 in a (then) EU member state is very informative in that regard, as indeed is the name of the special adviser behind the controversial policy. [0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17235168 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17235168
waskeifnikakew 6y ago
I also don't trust my goverment to use the keys only for good purpose, recently in Spain a commissar was paying girls to have sexual contact with influential people to get information about politiceans.
- Daniel_sk 6y ago
  In our case those guys had direct access to police systems, they could look up anything (and they did!). Now imagine if they could also read all your messages. The EU proposal will actually weaken the security of its own citizens. The IT community must fight back.
Areading314 6y ago
Yep, also scandals like the one in neighboring Austria where senior government officials were caught on candid camera making deals with fake oligarchs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibiza_affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibiza_affair
GekkePrutser 6y ago
Wow that's pretty bad.. Have any decent writeup on it so I can learn more about it?
- Daniel_sk 6y ago
  It's a developing story, I will try to find some got article later. The funny thing is that it all started after one criminal (Marian Kocner) was arrested and his iPhone had the app Threema installed - an E2E encrypted chat. Fortunately for the investigators he had backups enabled and they could access the chat history in plain text. He was in direct contact with government officials including politicians, judges, and so on. And this helped to uncover an even bigger organized group. The whole communication leaked and everyone can read it. You can find passages where he asks to pull specific information from police database. I think maybe 30+ high ranked people are now waiting behind bars for the trial.
  - hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
    Wow, this is a truly fascinating story that I hadn't previously heard about in the US. Here is a good article I found that led me down the rabbit hole: https://www.dw.com/en/slovakia-arrests-ex-police-chiefs-over-journalist-killing/a-55514211 https://www.dw.com/en/slovakia-arrests-ex-police-chiefs-over...
dinglefairy 6y ago
encryption for the government no encryption for the people sounds like the perfect democratic recipe
raxxorrax 6y ago
Government is just another group of people. We currently have few statesmen in politics, only people afraid to loose control and this is a symptom that has haunted us for over 30 years. Any cooperation with the EU on these issue should be denied. Many people are way ahead of constitutions and democratic legitimacy.

dane-pgp 6y ago

Another way of determining whether these proposals past the "smell test" is to ask how politicians treat legitimate requests for access to their communications (carried out as part of their jobs, which we pay them for) in response to Freedom Of Information requests. An example[0] from 2012 in a (then) EU member state is very informative in that regard, as indeed is the name of the special adviser behind the controversial policy. [0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17235168 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17235168

waskeifnikakew 6y ago

I also don't trust my goverment to use the keys only for good purpose, recently in Spain a commissar was paying girls to have sexual contact with influential people to get information about politiceans.

Daniel_sk 6y ago
In our case those guys had direct access to police systems, they could look up anything (and they did!). Now imagine if they could also read all your messages. The EU proposal will actually weaken the security of its own citizens. The IT community must fight back.

Areading314 6y ago

Yep, also scandals like the one in neighboring Austria where senior government officials were caught on candid camera making deals with fake oligarchs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibiza_affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibiza_affair

GekkePrutser 6y ago

Wow that's pretty bad.. Have any decent writeup on it so I can learn more about it?

Daniel_sk 6y ago
It's a developing story, I will try to find some got article later. The funny thing is that it all started after one criminal (Marian Kocner) was arrested and his iPhone had the app Threema installed - an E2E encrypted chat. Fortunately for the investigators he had backups enabled and they could access the chat history in plain text. He was in direct contact with government officials including politicians, judges, and so on. And this helped to uncover an even bigger organized group. The whole communication leaked and everyone can read it. You can find passages where he asks to pull specific information from police database. I think maybe 30+ high ranked people are now waiting behind bars for the trial.
- hn_throwaway_99 6y ago
  Wow, this is a truly fascinating story that I hadn't previously heard about in the US. Here is a good article I found that led me down the rabbit hole: https://www.dw.com/en/slovakia-arrests-ex-police-chiefs-over-journalist-killing/a-55514211 https://www.dw.com/en/slovakia-arrests-ex-police-chiefs-over...

dinglefairy 6y ago

encryption for the government no encryption for the people sounds like the perfect democratic recipe

raxxorrax 6y ago

Government is just another group of people. We currently have few statesmen in politics, only people afraid to loose control and this is a symptom that has haunted us for over 30 years. Any cooperation with the EU on these issue should be denied. Many people are way ahead of constitutions and democratic legitimacy.