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Hence governments are trying to ban Signal/Telegram and there was a leak yesterday from Spain about the government trying to ban encrypted messages all together
by suddenclarity 3y ago
Hence governments are trying to ban Signal/Telegram and there was a leak yesterday from Spain about the government trying to ban encrypted messages all together.
Newspapers losing control over the narrative over the last 15 years have been "extremely dangerous for our democracy" and it's no surprise politicians are pushing back against Internet in an attempt to regain the control. At the moment it seems impossible to predict what the future will look like, but it doesn't look promising in my view.
- hnbad 3y agoStates are trying to ban Signal/Telegram because they are used for organizing and the distribution of disinformation in particular and agitprop in general. This runs counter to the interest of states as it undermines their power structures. They're also often used by groups funded by foreign states seeking to influence public opinion (either to support certain viewpoints or simply to disrupt consensus). In other words, the problem is states. If you irrevocably delegate your decision making to a representative government as is presumed in the idea of the "social contract", that government becomes its own entity as a state and must establish a system of domination against its subjects to maintain itself. Anyone seeking to change or abolish it, whether one of its subjects or as a foreign state, must be seen as hostile and be contained or eliminated. We can discuss whether that is good or bad but it seems contradictory to want a powerful state but not want it to have power.
- zirgs 3y agoSome time ago I wrote a program, that encrypted/decrypted files by xoring them against a one-time pad. It took me less than an hour. That kind of encryption can even be done with a pen and paper. Encryption ban is unenforceable.
- revelio 3y agoAh yes, we'll just regularly distribute one time pads to our friends and family and they'll do the same to us. No biggie.
- geraldhh 3y agounironically, this may be the only way.
- zirgs 3y agoWhat I'm saying is that people who have something to hide will find a way. You can't ban math. Google and Microsoft made a solution that scans user files for illegal stuff, but it can be easily defeated by simply uploading a password protected archive.