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from the first-one-way-then-the-other dept.
The Independent quotes France's interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, as saying
Exchanges carried out via applications like Telegram must be identified and used in the course of judicial proceedings.
[...] We propose that the EU Commission studies the possibility of a legislative act introducing rights and obligations for operators to force them to remove illicit content or decrypt messages as part of investigations, whether or not they are based in Europe.
Similar intentions have been announced by the UK government in the past. Those are still up for debate but were walked back at least slightly in the face of an angry reaction from campaigners and activists.
The same article says that Germany will make the same request.
Previously:
European Privacy Body Slams Shut Backdoors Everywhere
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Wednesday August 24 2016, @08:24PM
Good encryption does not recognize borders, nor does stupidity apparently.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24 2016, @08:34PM
I don't know how I feel about it. On one hand, they've a more desperate and even, yes, legitimate, need for such drastic measures than, say, the US does or ever has, though I see that changing for the US within the next, oh... five years or so.
On the other hand, it's a need that was created in the first place by the same people who are doing the asking. If you need to create new problems to solve the problems you've already created, maybe you're the ACTUAL problem.
And on the other, other hand, it's borderline silly and outright unrealistic from a technical point of view.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24 2016, @08:39PM
Go to war with the techies. See what happens.
(Score: 5, Informative) by stormreaver on Wednesday August 24 2016, @08:58PM
On one hand, they've a more desperate and even, yes, legitimate, need for such drastic measures...
No, they don't have a legitimate need for it. Remember, none of the terrorist attacks were facilitated by encryption. They were all carried out in plain sight.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anal Pumpernickel on Wednesday August 24 2016, @09:04PM
There wouldn't be a legitimate need for it even if there were terrorist attacks that were facilitated by encryption. Sacrificing everyone's privacy to stop a few terrorists is unjust beyond belief, and therefore such a false need could never be described as legitimate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24 2016, @09:33PM
This (crazy) idea is from the same (crazy) people that think groping everybody's crotch in airports stops terrorism. Crazy!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24 2016, @10:23PM
Be fair, we don't check everyone's crotch, just the good-looking ones.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Wednesday August 24 2016, @09:53PM
As Stormreaver pointed out, thus far, encryption hasn't been a factor at all in their problems, so they have no legitimate reason.
Next up, they've apparently been living under a rock. The NSA losing it's tools demonstrates that the gold key will likely leak sooner or later (I'm guessing sooner) and will fall into the hands of exactly the wrong people. They will have made sitting ducks of their citizens.
(Score: 2) by stormreaver on Friday August 26 2016, @02:19PM
The NSA losing it's tools demonstrates that the gold key will likely leak sooner or later (I'm guessing sooner) and will fall into the hands of exactly the wrong people. They will have made sitting ducks of their citizens.
Which is exactly why I hold the view that the lawmakers pushing for these backdoors are actively aiding and abetting terrorists, pedophiles, and all forms of criminals. They are providing aid and comfort to the enemy. If that phrase doesn't ring a significant bell, click on this link:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Aid+and+Comfort [thefreedictionary.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Francis on Wednesday August 24 2016, @11:26PM
At present there's no evidence to suggest that a lack of backdoors is actually holding investigations back with any frequency.
Cases where there's evidence locked in an encrypted volume are rare. The criminals they catch tend to be stupid enough that they hand the police the relevant data without need of breaking into it. Or they hack into the computer and use a keylogger to get the necessary password to decrypt the drive.
The main reason why they want it, is because they're looking for more power, not because there's this large volume of drives that they absolutely need to decrypt otherwise the terrorist will blow up puppies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @02:34PM
maybe you're the ACTUAL problem.
Yes, we are the problem, but you need more of us to solve the problem. Monies pleeez...
(Score: 2) by tibman on Wednesday August 24 2016, @08:44PM
Yeah, not sure what they are thinking. But the next step would be to make it illegal (for citizens) to use unbreakable* encryption. Yikes! But to be fair, everyone knows (or should know) Skype is not secure [wikipedia.org] but plenty of people still use it. Not only is it unsecure but it actively undermines your privacy and security. So this law (or one like it) will probably pass. Leading to the next step..
*Unbreakable also meaning unbackdoored
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(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Wednesday August 24 2016, @09:22PM
Any Microsoft product should be considered unsafe due to backdoors.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Wednesday August 24 2016, @11:28PM
Backdoors? I'd be more concerned with bugs. MS doesn't exactly hire the best and brightest or bother to retain them long enough to properly secure the OS. Right now the average length of employment is less than 18 months at a go.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @03:05PM
Right now the average length of employment is less than 18 months at a go.
You got numbers to back that claim up, boy?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 24 2016, @09:08PM
Both politicians are not particularly popular (Germany's de Maiziere probably even less so than his French counterpart) and are appealing to right-wing protest voters (Front National in France, AfD in Germany) in view of upcoming elections...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @12:11AM
Why would the right wing want to ban encryption?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 25 2016, @06:22AM
At least in Germany these voters are mostly computer-illiterate people in the 60+ age group. They just want "control" over some unseen evil in a world that is increasingly "too young" for them to understand.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by ewk on Thursday August 25 2016, @11:15AM
What you cannot see, you cannot control.
Since right wingers want to control everything/everyone, you need to be able to see everything/everyone.
Hence the 'need' for backdoored encryption (or 'need' for the prohibition of wearing hoodies/masks on certain venues).
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