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posted by cmn32480 on Friday November 27 2015, @06:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the stand-up dept.

Submitted via IRC for chromas

A coalition of dozens of the largest tech companies in the world is adamantly opposing any form of an official "backdoor" into encrypted devices.

The Information Technology Industry Council is a group of more than 60 major tech companies and organizations, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel and Facebook.

"We deeply appreciate law enforcement's and the national security community's work to protect us," the council said in a statement issued Thursday, "but weakening encryption or creating backdoors to encrypted devices and data for use by the good guys would actually create vulnerabilities to be exploited by the bad guys, which would almost certainly cause serious physical and financial harm across our society and our economy."

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/tech-industry-coalition-defies-calls-weakened-encryption-n466616


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  • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday November 28 2015, @12:09AM

    by dyingtolive (952) on Saturday November 28 2015, @12:09AM (#268879)

    I haven't seen that, though looking at it, I think I've seen something similar for Outlook some years back.

    Based upon a very unscientific and brief study of how most people use email nowadays, most people just go to a webmail (gmail, ymail, outlook.com) portal if they're using a computer, and use their phone app otherwise. I always viewed that workflow as the largest barrier to entry, and not just general indifference. If I can abstract the extra crypto to something as simple as gmail is to use, bill it as something that "lets you use your existing email and keeps everyone out of your business", and is actually functional for users as well as non-users, then I can't see it not taking off. I mean, even non-technical people use ad-blockers nowadays. This can't be that far off.

    Breaking into the mobile world is the most terrifying thing. The webmail paradigm doesn't really translate well in that case, and depending on paranoid you are about a mobile device, you have pretty good reason to treat absolutely everything being done on it as compromised anyway.

    My way of handling public key repositories as of this time was to have a webserver acting as a directory listing of all keys with as much or as little personal information as you want to provide to help identify yourself as the public key, and then after you have done this, your webmail instance sends a one-time pad (encrypted with the server's key, of course) that can be used to update the public key if you ever choose to change your key for whatever reason. This provides a backup measure to prove you are who you claim to be, even with a new key, so long as you have access to the hardware you set all this up on. Recipients would be emailed notices that you changed your key, along with the updated key, from you. OTP might be utilized there too. Not sure yet. This means that if someone compromised the public key repo with a tainted public key, the people you've been communicating with already would still at least be safe.

    Then the trick is making this so straightforward that Grandma can use it.

    I'm not looking to make money off of something like this. I think, for it to actually be useful and trustworthy, it's basically impossible to generate revenue from it. I wonder, if I do actually functionally complete it, if I would even want to attach my name to it. The last thing I would want to be my legacy is aiding dogmatic assholes in their wholesale killing of infidels, which goes back to my previous contemplation of whether people actually deserve this kind of thing existing.

    --
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Saturday November 28 2015, @12:49AM

    by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Saturday November 28 2015, @12:49AM (#268903) Homepage Journal

    I'm not looking to make money off of something like this. I think, for it to actually be useful and trustworthy, it's basically impossible to generate revenue from it. I wonder, if I do actually functionally complete it, if I would even want to attach my name to it. The last thing I would want to be my legacy is aiding dogmatic assholes in their wholesale killing of infidels, which goes back to my previous contemplation of whether people actually deserve this kind of thing existing. [emphasis added]

    I'd point out that conservative (meaning high) estimates put the number of those involved in terrorist activities at about 200,000. Sound like a lot, doesn't it? Given the global population, those guys make up .0000285% of us.

    You're wondering if the entire human race deserves to be secure in their communications because one in every 35,000 people might use it for nefarious purposes? I see you've been buying in to the "OMG! OMG! the terrists are everywhere! Quick! Cavity search me immediately so I know they aren't harvesting the methane in my farts!" bullshit way too much.

    Perhaps a change of perspective might be in order.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
    • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:18AM

      by dyingtolive (952) on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:18AM (#268930)

      Well, the funny thing was that I would have never had any doubt about a project like this, even after the WTC. For some reason, Paris happened, and I had a hard time wanting to continue work. As a US citizen, I don't know why Paris was a bigger deal for me than the WTC was. Maybe it was because it was more recent. Maybe it's because I didn't expect to see France get hit, of all the places. Who knows? There's no rationalizing emotion, or if there is, I've never been great at it.

      I do agree with your final point though, however condescending your message was. I do think I need to change my perspective. I think perhaps I need to walk away from everything. Sort of a bit of a purge, and then come back and see what things look like then.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
      • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:28AM

        by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:28AM (#268933) Homepage Journal

        I do agree with your final point though, however condescending your message was. I do think I need to change my perspective. I think perhaps I need to walk away from everything. Sort of a bit of a purge, and then come back and see what things look like then.

        I'm glad you're open minded enough to seek a change of perspective. My intent was not to be condescending. Rather, it was to point up the absurdity of the message that our government and the media are pushing, and pushing hard.

        --
        No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
        • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:32AM

          by dyingtolive (952) on Saturday November 28 2015, @01:32AM (#268935)

          That's fair. I didn't take it personally. I think I've always been more angry and fearful of our government than I have been of terrorists. I'm not sure why it changed lately.

          I think I'll walk away for the weekend and see if I can make myself rational in a few days.

          --
          Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!