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As a UK citizen, I feel jaded and bitter about this topic, as the government have been pushing to "ban encryption" in one form or another for... it feels like d

As a UK citizen, I feel jaded and bitter about this topic, as the government have been pushing to "ban encryption" in one form or another for... it feels like decades now? And each time they're advised against it or unable to get it into law, they draw up another proposal and try to sneak it in another way. It feels like one of these days, if they keep trying, they'll manage get it past the experts/lawyers somehow and it'll doom our privacy for a long time. So in the writing, I don't detect over-reaching self-righteousness or a lack of self-awareness - more, awareness of just how tiring and arduous this push for "encryption bans" is getting to everyone who understands the implications of it, and how frustrating it is to have to repeatedly deal with this kind of insidiousness in government.

anyoneamous 3y ago
> It feels like one of these days, if they keep trying, they'll manage get it past the experts/lawyers I felt exactly the same way about Brexit; it was clear that if we voted Remain that Nigel Farage would still be there - alongside Maxwell's Demon - to shove us towards the door at the next opportune moment. Seems like this is one of the hardest problems in modern politics - populists only have to win once, due to us having a complex system of preferential arrangements and one-way door decisions.
- ppp_p 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - 0dayz 3y ago
    >statists Oh cry me a river with that cynical view of democracy. Just because you aren't engaged in democracy doesn't mean everyone wants to be a lame duck.
M2Ys4U 3y ago
To use an infamous quote: We have to be lucky every time. They only have to be lucky once.
- robin_reala 3y ago
  (for people who don’t know the origin, it’s from the IRA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing#IRA_statement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing#IRA_sta...)
- nonrandomstring 3y ago
  The quote is a pithy formulation of Blotto game theory, or "front analysis" [0] which I've taught in cybersecurity for some years now as an introductory concept alongside Dolev-Yeo [1]. It is obliquely connected to the "attackers advantage" (here as a business concept [2]) and "terrorists always win in the end". As the number of fronts to defend grows, in space or time, the uncertainty of how to allocate resources against novel attacks becomes overwhelming, as does the burden of hyper-vigilance. The enemy can afford to sleep and wait. Security is an essentially conservative project. One is defending existing resources, rights, powers... against an opportunistic insurgent. Security of democracy (as Franklin said, "if you can keep it") against tyrants (who are simply "terrorists" in waiting) is no different. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blotto_game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blotto_game [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolev%E2%80%93Yao_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolev%E2%80%93Yao_model [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21413841-the-attacker-s-advantage https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21413841-the-attacker-s-...
- moffkalast 3y ago
  Ironically, Thatcher was in fact lucky every time and they never ended up being lucky at all.
marcosdumay 3y ago
> it feels like decades now? About 3 of them. What is it with anglophone politicians and encryption?

anyoneamous 3y ago

> It feels like one of these days, if they keep trying, they'll manage get it past the experts/lawyers I felt exactly the same way about Brexit; it was clear that if we voted Remain that Nigel Farage would still be there - alongside Maxwell's Demon - to shove us towards the door at the next opportune moment. Seems like this is one of the hardest problems in modern politics - populists only have to win once, due to us having a complex system of preferential arrangements and one-way door decisions.

ppp_p 3y ago
[flagged]
- 0dayz 3y ago
  >statists Oh cry me a river with that cynical view of democracy. Just because you aren't engaged in democracy doesn't mean everyone wants to be a lame duck.

M2Ys4U 3y ago

To use an infamous quote: We have to be lucky every time. They only have to be lucky once.

robin_reala 3y ago
(for people who don’t know the origin, it’s from the IRA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing#IRA_statement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing#IRA_sta...)
nonrandomstring 3y ago
The quote is a pithy formulation of Blotto game theory, or "front analysis" [0] which I've taught in cybersecurity for some years now as an introductory concept alongside Dolev-Yeo [1]. It is obliquely connected to the "attackers advantage" (here as a business concept [2]) and "terrorists always win in the end". As the number of fronts to defend grows, in space or time, the uncertainty of how to allocate resources against novel attacks becomes overwhelming, as does the burden of hyper-vigilance. The enemy can afford to sleep and wait. Security is an essentially conservative project. One is defending existing resources, rights, powers... against an opportunistic insurgent. Security of democracy (as Franklin said, "if you can keep it") against tyrants (who are simply "terrorists" in waiting) is no different. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blotto_game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blotto_game [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolev%E2%80%93Yao_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolev%E2%80%93Yao_model [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21413841-the-attacker-s-advantage https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21413841-the-attacker-s-...
moffkalast 3y ago
Ironically, Thatcher was in fact lucky every time and they never ended up being lucky at all.

marcosdumay 3y ago

> it feels like decades now? About 3 of them. What is it with anglophone politicians and encryption?