6 ms·

The Met commissioner: Tech giants make it impossible to stop terrorists

38 points by mcc1ane 5y ago

Quillbert182 5y ago
I'm sorry, but I would rather have the privacy encryption gives me than safety adding a backdoor would provide. Not to mention that authoritarian governments would abuse such a system left and right.
- baal80spam 5y ago
  > I'm sorry Don't be. It's the only sensible opinion on this.
- WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
  I agree with this except for the part where Safety and Backdoor are in the same sentence.
firebaze 5y ago
Credibility 2.0. https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/ecu/mayday-the-canister-on-the-bed-radio-4-20-november-2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/ecu/mayday-the-canister-on-the...
mrlonglong 5y ago
Cressida Dick was the one who gave the order to kill Carlos Mendes after MI5 wrongly identified him as a known terrorist on their watch list. In fact Carlos was innocent. Clowns to put it mildly.
- mcc1ane 5y ago
  Jean Charles de Menezes
  - mrlonglong 5y ago
    I knew I should have checked the name, it's been years. But thanks.
throwawaymanbot 5y ago
Dick by name… Dick by nature. It’s like an actual fetish with these people. Securocrats.
dan-robertson 5y ago
That explains the massive number of terror attacks we’ve seen in London then. The most effective way we reduced terror attacks in the past was with negotiated peace in Northern Ireland. Effectiveness of attacks was also reduced with physical security like cast iron/concrete bollards making truck bombs (or more recent developments like driving a van into lots of people) harder. Terror attacks in the U.K. today tend to come from poorly organised Islamists and neo-nazis who don’t really do significant amounts of harm (but maybe you would disagree with me on that—the IRA were mostly interested in harming property rather than people unlike today’s attackers) and I’m not really suggesting negotiated peace here. I suspect that increased prosperity (and people being optimistic about their futures) in the U.K. and perhaps certain places abroad would reduce attacks but obviously that is hard to achieve and any effect is hard to measure. Perhaps technology companies and encryption would be a bigger deal if terrorists were more competent but at the moment their opsec seems poor with many foiled plots (apparently—maybe these plots were exaggerated or never really viable) and only minor successes.
- the-dude 5y ago
  Do you have examples of the neo-nazi attacks?
  - eynsham 5y ago
    Off the top of my head, broadly right-wing attacks include the murders of Jo Cox and Md Saleem. There was also this incident: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/man-stabbed-during-violence-as-polish-neonazis-storm-tottenham-music-festival-9556346.html https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/man-stabbed-during-vio.... I may have forgotten some.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - OneEyedRobot 5y ago
    Is that a problem there? Looking at this long list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in... all I'm seeing is "a neo-Nazi with paranoid schizophrenia carried out nail bomb attacks over three weekends" in 1999.
seasily 5y ago
The UK's immigration policy wrt. certain places 10-1000x more prone to violent crimes make it harder to stop terrorism
calvinmorrison 5y ago
The horsemen of the privacy Apocalypse. Its always kiddie porn, terrorists or drugs.
Lammy 5y ago
"A form of psychological manipulation through warfare to the purpose of political or religious gains, by means of deliberately creating a climate of fear amongst the inhabitants of a specific geographical region."
- WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
  This is an excellent synopsis of what drives LEO's anti-encryption propaganda.
WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
Dear LEO everywhere. Whatever safety you pretend I'd get by letting you break everyone's encryption, I am declining it.
pydry 5y ago
I don't understand how this woman became police commissioner. She's only ever failed and somehow that only ever led to promotions or commendations (e.g. a CBE). Her main achievement prior to becoming commissioner was heading up a botched anti-terrorism operation that ended up with an innocent Brazilian plumber being shot in the head. Her main achievement since becoming commissioner was obstructing an investigation into police corruption: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/15/daniel-morgan-met-chief-censured-for-hampering-corruption-inquiry https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/15/daniel-morga...
- botwriter 5y ago
  Shes a lesbian with the surname Dick... Maybe the stereotypes about police officers being kids who were bullied at school are right...
- zakary 5y ago
  > Her main achievement since becoming commissioner was obstructing an investigation into police corruption I think you have your answer. She’s a “team player” as far as the police ans the government are concerned. As with any organisation, promotions are contingent not on doing a ‘good’ job, but on doing what the higher ups consider to be in their interests. It would seem the senior management in her department have made their priorities clear
  - MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
    You do what is a measured, not what is right. That's how you succeed in corporate America at least.
- leashless 5y ago
  Skill in covering up failure is the key to success in British politics. Have you seen our Prime Minister?
- mnd999 5y ago
  I’ve noticed she always (at least publicly) backs her officers no matter how badly they mess up. I guess that makes her popular in the force.
stefan_ 5y ago
CSAM is terrorism now? Did the BBC mix up their notes on what nonsense to push as they work to end encryption?
detcader 5y ago
The public's focus on refusing to install police cameras in every room of their home is making it impossible to stop The Terrorists and costing thousands of lives. Bookstores' and libraries' focus on selling any book they choose without our approval makes it so Radicals can recruit anyone, anywhere and at any time resulting in countless people thinking hateful or incorrect things. Terrorism and violence has nothing to do with the police failing at their jobs or the upper classes gutting local communities, quality of life, art and spirituality or mismanaged and murderous foreign policy, or anything like that -- just give us more control and you will be happier and safer.
esalman 5y ago
Police like this person are lazy. They are interested in blanket wiretapping, because it is too much work to go to a judge to try to justify taking away someone's property (PC, phone etc.) to access encryption keys.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Ms-J 5y ago
I am so tired of the lies. Encryption doesn't stop you from 'catching bad guys,' it only stops you from mass-spying. Furthermore, I'd argue that the real 'bad guys' in the present day is LE its self. The acts that are punished these days are things like personal drug use, protesting, unfair tax evasion, human rights demonstrations, and whistle-blowing. All things that the people would like to engage in but the government wants to squash at all costs. Again, who are the actual criminals??
- christkv 5y ago
  Exactly how did they ever manage to catch all the bad guys before all this surveillance powers. I guess doing proper police work?
motohagiography 5y ago
Zero legs to stand on with that one. Someone whose job is to manage crime has no interest in stopping or preventing it, and their only interest is using crime as leverage for more powers and budget authority. This person presides over the most invasive domestic surveillance panopticon in the history of the world. There's no moral case or basis in fact for new powers, the public comment is just a signal or tracer flare for something else. If I had private security and my house were broken into, I'd fire the security people and find new ones who could do the job, not let them move into my living room. Given the tools and resources they already have, the government should reduce police budgets and workforce every time there is a purse snatching so that they have some skin in the game.
bob229 5y ago
The bbc is garbage. Stop sharing it. Also the Met commissioner is an idiot and no one should listen to her

38 points by mcc1ane 5y ago

I'm sorry, but I would rather have the privacy encryption gives me than safety adding a backdoor would provide. Not to mention that authoritarian governments would abuse such a system left and right.

baal80spam 5y ago
> I'm sorry Don't be. It's the only sensible opinion on this.
WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
I agree with this except for the part where Safety and Backdoor are in the same sentence.

firebaze 5y ago

Credibility 2.0. https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/ecu/mayday-the-canister-on-the-bed-radio-4-20-november-2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/ecu/mayday-the-canister-on-the...

mrlonglong 5y ago

Cressida Dick was the one who gave the order to kill Carlos Mendes after MI5 wrongly identified him as a known terrorist on their watch list. In fact Carlos was innocent. Clowns to put it mildly.

mcc1ane 5y ago
Jean Charles de Menezes
- mrlonglong 5y ago
  I knew I should have checked the name, it's been years. But thanks.

throwawaymanbot 5y ago

Dick by name… Dick by nature. It’s like an actual fetish with these people. Securocrats.

dan-robertson 5y ago

That explains the massive number of terror attacks we’ve seen in London then. The most effective way we reduced terror attacks in the past was with negotiated peace in Northern Ireland. Effectiveness of attacks was also reduced with physical security like cast iron/concrete bollards making truck bombs (or more recent developments like driving a van into lots of people) harder. Terror attacks in the U.K. today tend to come from poorly organised Islamists and neo-nazis who don’t really do significant amounts of harm (but maybe you would disagree with me on that—the IRA were mostly interested in harming property rather than people unlike today’s attackers) and I’m not really suggesting negotiated peace here. I suspect that increased prosperity (and people being optimistic about their futures) in the U.K. and perhaps certain places abroad would reduce attacks but obviously that is hard to achieve and any effect is hard to measure. Perhaps technology companies and encryption would be a bigger deal if terrorists were more competent but at the moment their opsec seems poor with many foiled plots (apparently—maybe these plots were exaggerated or never really viable) and only minor successes.

the-dude 5y ago
Do you have examples of the neo-nazi attacks?
- eynsham 5y ago
  Off the top of my head, broadly right-wing attacks include the murders of Jo Cox and Md Saleem. There was also this incident: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/man-stabbed-during-violence-as-polish-neonazis-storm-tottenham-music-festival-9556346.html https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/man-stabbed-during-vio.... I may have forgotten some.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- OneEyedRobot 5y ago
  Is that a problem there? Looking at this long list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in... all I'm seeing is "a neo-Nazi with paranoid schizophrenia carried out nail bomb attacks over three weekends" in 1999.

seasily 5y ago

The UK's immigration policy wrt. certain places 10-1000x more prone to violent crimes make it harder to stop terrorism

calvinmorrison 5y ago

The horsemen of the privacy Apocalypse. Its always kiddie porn, terrorists or drugs.

Lammy 5y ago

"A form of psychological manipulation through warfare to the purpose of political or religious gains, by means of deliberately creating a climate of fear amongst the inhabitants of a specific geographical region."

WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
This is an excellent synopsis of what drives LEO's anti-encryption propaganda.

WarOnPrivacy 5y ago

Dear LEO everywhere. Whatever safety you pretend I'd get by letting you break everyone's encryption, I am declining it.

pydry 5y ago

I don't understand how this woman became police commissioner. She's only ever failed and somehow that only ever led to promotions or commendations (e.g. a CBE). Her main achievement prior to becoming commissioner was heading up a botched anti-terrorism operation that ended up with an innocent Brazilian plumber being shot in the head. Her main achievement since becoming commissioner was obstructing an investigation into police corruption: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/15/daniel-morgan-met-chief-censured-for-hampering-corruption-inquiry https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jun/15/daniel-morga...

botwriter 5y ago
Shes a lesbian with the surname Dick... Maybe the stereotypes about police officers being kids who were bullied at school are right...
zakary 5y ago
> Her main achievement since becoming commissioner was obstructing an investigation into police corruption I think you have your answer. She’s a “team player” as far as the police ans the government are concerned. As with any organisation, promotions are contingent not on doing a ‘good’ job, but on doing what the higher ups consider to be in their interests. It would seem the senior management in her department have made their priorities clear
- MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
  You do what is a measured, not what is right. That's how you succeed in corporate America at least.
leashless 5y ago
Skill in covering up failure is the key to success in British politics. Have you seen our Prime Minister?
mnd999 5y ago
I’ve noticed she always (at least publicly) backs her officers no matter how badly they mess up. I guess that makes her popular in the force.

stefan_ 5y ago

CSAM is terrorism now? Did the BBC mix up their notes on what nonsense to push as they work to end encryption?

detcader 5y ago

The public's focus on refusing to install police cameras in every room of their home is making it impossible to stop The Terrorists and costing thousands of lives. Bookstores' and libraries' focus on selling any book they choose without our approval makes it so Radicals can recruit anyone, anywhere and at any time resulting in countless people thinking hateful or incorrect things. Terrorism and violence has nothing to do with the police failing at their jobs or the upper classes gutting local communities, quality of life, art and spirituality or mismanaged and murderous foreign policy, or anything like that -- just give us more control and you will be happier and safer.

esalman 5y ago

Police like this person are lazy. They are interested in blanket wiretapping, because it is too much work to go to a judge to try to justify taking away someone's property (PC, phone etc.) to access encryption keys.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Ms-J 5y ago

I am so tired of the lies. Encryption doesn't stop you from 'catching bad guys,' it only stops you from mass-spying. Furthermore, I'd argue that the real 'bad guys' in the present day is LE its self. The acts that are punished these days are things like personal drug use, protesting, unfair tax evasion, human rights demonstrations, and whistle-blowing. All things that the people would like to engage in but the government wants to squash at all costs. Again, who are the actual criminals??

christkv 5y ago
Exactly how did they ever manage to catch all the bad guys before all this surveillance powers. I guess doing proper police work?

motohagiography 5y ago

Zero legs to stand on with that one. Someone whose job is to manage crime has no interest in stopping or preventing it, and their only interest is using crime as leverage for more powers and budget authority. This person presides over the most invasive domestic surveillance panopticon in the history of the world. There's no moral case or basis in fact for new powers, the public comment is just a signal or tracer flare for something else. If I had private security and my house were broken into, I'd fire the security people and find new ones who could do the job, not let them move into my living room. Given the tools and resources they already have, the government should reduce police budgets and workforce every time there is a purse snatching so that they have some skin in the game.

bob229 5y ago

The bbc is garbage. Stop sharing it. Also the Met commissioner is an idiot and no one should listen to her