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Weird that this app is doing something that seems very applauded among HN users (End-to-end encryption! User-exposed private keys since that's the only way to u

by RC_ITR 4y ago

Weird that this app is doing something that seems very applauded among HN users (End-to-end encryption! User-exposed private keys since that's the only way to unencrypt your data/move to a new device!), but the headline (written by a Vice reported who states they don't understand encryption no less!) is what is getting traction.

atoav 4y ago
Is it based in the US? Then you can trust that encryption as far as you (or your favourite government agency) can throw it.
- Longlius 4y ago
  More than you can trust encryption in pretty much every other part of the world.
  - iosono88 4y ago
  - atoav 4y ago
    Not that there isn't any presedence. Any Non-US-Citizen would be stupid to assume any US-operated service wouldn't turn over their logs, data, keys or a government backdoor if the right three letter agency comes around the corner with the patriot act. You might want to read up on the EU-US "privacy shield" and the reasoning behind why it has been abolished from the EU-side. I trust encryption if it comes from nations that have shown a strong respect for their own and foreign citizens rights to human dignity and privacy, and if they have shown to balance these rights in a good way with other values such as national security. The US is not such a nation, by a far stretch. Are there worse nations by that metric? Sure. But the US might need to realized that it doesn't have such a good standing on freedom and human rights as its citizens like to tell themselves. Not that places in Europe are saints here. But this about trust, and trust stands and falls with precedent and needs time and effort to be rebuilt. I have yet to see that effort.
    - withinboredom 4y ago
      I thought privacy shield got invalidated?
      - atoav 4y ago
        There is a chance that privacy "shield" is the opposite of what you think it is. Privacy shield was the idea to do as if US and EU privacy rules meet the same standard. This has been striken down by the EU court of justice for the ridiculous stretch that it was. That means now that privacy shield has been invalidated, EU and US privacy law is not compatible with each other. On top of that any US company can give you as many contractual guarantees as they like — they still will have to comply with the patriot act and give data to US secret services without any court interaction (or was it one of those shady "secret courts"?) — all of which is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

by RC_ITR 4y ago

atoav 4y ago

Is it based in the US? Then you can trust that encryption as far as you (or your favourite government agency) can throw it.

Longlius 4y ago
More than you can trust encryption in pretty much every other part of the world.
- iosono88 4y ago
- atoav 4y ago
  Not that there isn't any presedence. Any Non-US-Citizen would be stupid to assume any US-operated service wouldn't turn over their logs, data, keys or a government backdoor if the right three letter agency comes around the corner with the patriot act. You might want to read up on the EU-US "privacy shield" and the reasoning behind why it has been abolished from the EU-side. I trust encryption if it comes from nations that have shown a strong respect for their own and foreign citizens rights to human dignity and privacy, and if they have shown to balance these rights in a good way with other values such as national security. The US is not such a nation, by a far stretch. Are there worse nations by that metric? Sure. But the US might need to realized that it doesn't have such a good standing on freedom and human rights as its citizens like to tell themselves. Not that places in Europe are saints here. But this about trust, and trust stands and falls with precedent and needs time and effort to be rebuilt. I have yet to see that effort.
  - withinboredom 4y ago
    I thought privacy shield got invalidated?
    - atoav 4y ago
      There is a chance that privacy "shield" is the opposite of what you think it is. Privacy shield was the idea to do as if US and EU privacy rules meet the same standard. This has been striken down by the EU court of justice for the ridiculous stretch that it was. That means now that privacy shield has been invalidated, EU and US privacy law is not compatible with each other. On top of that any US company can give you as many contractual guarantees as they like — they still will have to comply with the patriot act and give data to US secret services without any court interaction (or was it one of those shady "secret courts"?) — all of which is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.