4 ms·

In a world where US and EU are willing to ban Signal because it doesn't allow a 'master key', Zoom is the BFF of governments and regulators.

danielscrubs 6y ago
What? ” The European Commission has told its staff to switch to the encrypted Signal messaging app in a move that’s designed to increase the security of its communications.” This was February 2020, has something changed?
- macrolime 6y ago
  Yes https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25028411 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25028411
  - thrwyoilarticle 6y ago
    The EU isn't a single individual. It isn't even a group of individuals with aligned interests. As such, its many different heads shouldn't be expected to have consistent messaging. This is a draft so, as of now, it's factually untrue to say the EU are willing to ban encryption.
- ckocagil 6y ago
  That's encryption for the state, not for us peasants.
  - matheusmoreira 6y ago
    Can the govenment somehow restrict end-to-end encrypted messaging to officials only?
    - vorpalhex 6y ago
      They can try the same as they can pass any other law. Of course, whether or not practically they can do it is another issue altogether...
    - Notorious_BLT 6y ago
      Given the opportunity, most governments would. Just look at the US's attempts to force phone OS vendors to include backdoors
    - moftz 6y ago
      They would just have a single state-run CA and ban all E2E messaging apps from app stores. Only state employees would have access to an E2E messaging app that would only use govt certs from the CA. Any apps that continue to operate outside of an app store could have their domestic servers seized and anything foreign would be blocked by all domestic ISPs. The govt could allow for civilian apps to use weak encryption as some sort of compromise but anything the govt can't crack instantly would be banned. It would require a Great Firewall-level of control with the govt playing whack-a-mole for a while but with enough time and money, civilian E2E would be near impossible. Fortunately, this is still a pipe dream for even the most extreme statists but if large corporations can come around to the idea of giving the govt an unlimited backdoor to their internal communications, say good bye to any/strong encryption for the average person. This level of planning is like the US govt outlawing all guns tomorrow, it just isn't going to happen any time soon since not only are gun-owners usually not the type to want to give up a gun, the prevalence of gun ownership is so massive that it would take equally massive resources to run a completely successful confiscation program.
      - BlueTemplar 6y ago
        > if large corporations can come around to the idea of giving the govt an unlimited backdoor to their internal communications, say good bye to any/strong encryption for the average person. You mean like what happened with PRISM ?
matheusmoreira 6y ago
Aren't government officials using Signal themselves precisely because it is so secure?

danielscrubs 6y ago

What? ” The European Commission has told its staff to switch to the encrypted Signal messaging app in a move that’s designed to increase the security of its communications.” This was February 2020, has something changed?

macrolime 6y ago
Yes https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25028411 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25028411
- thrwyoilarticle 6y ago
  The EU isn't a single individual. It isn't even a group of individuals with aligned interests. As such, its many different heads shouldn't be expected to have consistent messaging. This is a draft so, as of now, it's factually untrue to say the EU are willing to ban encryption.
ckocagil 6y ago
That's encryption for the state, not for us peasants.
- matheusmoreira 6y ago
  Can the govenment somehow restrict end-to-end encrypted messaging to officials only?
  - vorpalhex 6y ago
    They can try the same as they can pass any other law. Of course, whether or not practically they can do it is another issue altogether...
  - Notorious_BLT 6y ago
    Given the opportunity, most governments would. Just look at the US's attempts to force phone OS vendors to include backdoors
  - moftz 6y ago
    They would just have a single state-run CA and ban all E2E messaging apps from app stores. Only state employees would have access to an E2E messaging app that would only use govt certs from the CA. Any apps that continue to operate outside of an app store could have their domestic servers seized and anything foreign would be blocked by all domestic ISPs. The govt could allow for civilian apps to use weak encryption as some sort of compromise but anything the govt can't crack instantly would be banned. It would require a Great Firewall-level of control with the govt playing whack-a-mole for a while but with enough time and money, civilian E2E would be near impossible. Fortunately, this is still a pipe dream for even the most extreme statists but if large corporations can come around to the idea of giving the govt an unlimited backdoor to their internal communications, say good bye to any/strong encryption for the average person. This level of planning is like the US govt outlawing all guns tomorrow, it just isn't going to happen any time soon since not only are gun-owners usually not the type to want to give up a gun, the prevalence of gun ownership is so massive that it would take equally massive resources to run a completely successful confiscation program.
    - BlueTemplar 6y ago
      > if large corporations can come around to the idea of giving the govt an unlimited backdoor to their internal communications, say good bye to any/strong encryption for the average person. You mean like what happened with PRISM ?

matheusmoreira 6y ago

Aren't government officials using Signal themselves precisely because it is so secure?