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posted by Fnord666 on Friday December 16 2016, @05:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-photos? dept.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation has called on professional camera makers to implement encryption in cameras to prevent governments from easily searching and seizing the contents:

An open letter written by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and signed by over 150 filmmakers and photojournalists calls on professional camera makers such as Nikon, Canon, Olympus, and Fuji to enable encryption to protect confidential videos from seizure by oppressive governments or criminals. The Freedom of the Press Foundation is a non-profit organization that has several noteworthy members, such as "Pentagon Papers" Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, and EFF's co-founder John Perry Barlow, on its board of directors.

[...] Filmmakers and photojournalists that film documentaries or shoot photos of abuses committed by governments or terrorists in dangerous parts of the world are constantly under threat of having their videos and photos seized and destroyed. The danger is even bigger when these bad actors can see what's on the cameras--it's not just the documentation of abuses that is exposed, but also the confidential sources that may have wanted to keep their identities hidden. Encryption would ensure those who seize their cameras couldn't see the contents of the cameras, nor the journalists' sources.

This won't necessarily ensure that the information collected by journalists is disseminated, since border agents and law enforcement officers can just destroy encrypted equipment. For that, cloud storage or live streaming features are needed, as well as reliable access to the Internet even during times of political crisis and network shutdowns.

Also at The Register, CNET, and TechCrunch (they also found a small cameramaker that is planning to ship on-camera encryption).


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  • (Score: 2) by jcross on Friday December 16 2016, @06:58PM

    by jcross (4009) on Friday December 16 2016, @06:58PM (#442155)

    Right on! I'm in the middle of reading "The Strategy of Conflict" and it seems to apply to so many situations. This is a perfect example of commitment as a negotiation strategy. If the journalist can convince their captors the photos can't be decrypted, the rubber hose treatment becomes an ineffective threat, and even a real liability if there's any concern about the beating being publicized.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Unixnut on Friday December 16 2016, @07:02PM

    by Unixnut (5779) on Friday December 16 2016, @07:02PM (#442159)

    Then they will just be imprisoned for not decrypting their device, as is now allowed in the UK. 3 years for not decrypting files you own, whether you can remember the password or not, and regardless of whether you are innocent of all other charges.

    • (Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday December 16 2016, @08:56PM

      by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Friday December 16 2016, @08:56PM (#442203)

      In the GP's example there is no password. Though that implies that they would not be able to review the encrypted images in the field.

      • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday December 16 2016, @09:06PM

        by Unixnut (5779) on Friday December 16 2016, @09:06PM (#442206)

        There is a password somewhere, otherwise the person being arrested would never be able to decrypt the files. Ergo there is a password somewhere. Doesn't matter if it is on the person at the time or not.

        I guess you can claim "I don't know the password, honest", but if you can't convince them of why you would be creating encrypted files you cannot decrypt, then they may just assume you are lying.

        Either way, you're going to be in trouble.

        • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday December 16 2016, @09:27PM

          by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Friday December 16 2016, @09:27PM (#442212)

          You can have key-pairs without passwords.

          You just have to hope you can explain to you interrogator the concept of public-key encryption.

          • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Friday December 16 2016, @09:37PM

            by Unixnut (5779) on Friday December 16 2016, @09:37PM (#442218)

            > You just have to hope you can explain to you interrogator the concept of public-key encryption.

            I don't think they will care. If they arrest you and demand you decrypt, you either do it, or you go to prison. Simple.

            Doesn't matter the type of encryption, they don't care. They have forensic people (the ones who found the files in the first place) who most likely know about the encryption, but that isn't in the remit of the police officer. All they know is you have encrypted files on your device, by law you have to provide the ability to decrypt the files, if you don't provide, you are breaking the law. Simple.

        • (Score: 2) by edIII on Friday December 16 2016, @09:46PM

          by edIII (791) on Friday December 16 2016, @09:46PM (#442226)

          What you say is:

          1) "I'm the picture TAKER, that's all I can do. I point, click, and an encrypted file gets created with information I've never seen, possessed, or interacted with. If I connect it to Internet, everything syncs back to my employer's servers in the United States. Here is my job overview and the manifest of pictures my employer would like me to take."

          2) "Please speak with Bob Smith, my supervisor, at 714-555-1212 in the United States. He's the picture READER. Only he can decrypt these pictures and view them. When I'm done I hand the entire device to him and my job is done."

          With a setup like this it's rather easy to create TAKERS and READERS. It's like getting angry at the guy in the nuclear silo because he can't unlock anything. It's a two person operation, and when you separate those two people by oceans and thousands of miles it makes it pretty difficult to unlock again.

          Sounds reasonable to me, and not even a lie. That's the truth.

          --
          Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
        • (Score: 2) by jcross on Friday December 16 2016, @10:09PM

          by jcross (4009) on Friday December 16 2016, @10:09PM (#442240)

          If the password is available in physical form in my home country, I can claim to be quite willing to cooperate. Oh yes, I'm happy to give you that password/private-key, I just need to fly home and unlock the safe in my house and then I'll be right back with it. I'm sure the law can be applied in nasty ways, but if any kind of jury is involved it would be hard to convince them to convict someone making an apparently sincere offer to decrypt the files. And if there's nothing like a transparent legal process, then all bets are off regardless.

          Also, how the hell do they fundamentally distinguish encrypted data from random data? Is it illegal to possess random data? After all, no one can prove it doesn't contain encrypted files.

          • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 16 2016, @11:27PM

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 16 2016, @11:27PM (#442272) Journal

            Several people seem to think that oppressive governments are "reasonable".

            Police Chief - "You were seen on the south face of Mt. PooPoo, and we know you carry your camera everywhere you go. Give me the images."

            Prisoner - "I can't decrypt anything on the camera."

            Chief - "Unfortunately for you and your camera, that is a death sentence. Tomorrow morning, you and your camera are going to accidentally fall off the NORTH face of the mountain."

            Prisoner - "My boss will demand an inquire."

            Chief - "There will be an inquiry, and it will be found that you imbibed in illicit drugs and alcohol before your death. It's been a pleasure talking to you!"

            • (Score: 2) by jcross on Saturday December 17 2016, @12:01AM

              by jcross (4009) on Saturday December 17 2016, @12:01AM (#442287)

              Good point, but I think there's a spectrum of reasonableness. The extreme in your example probably does exist, but it's important to understand that such an action is not without risk, especially when dealing with foreign nationals and especially journalists. There's international reputation to consider, if nothing else, and potentially legal complications as well. I think the important thing is that while the journalist might have the protection of being from a powerful country and having a large mouthpiece at their back, their sources probably don't, and this measure extends some protection to the sources where they don't really have any now.

              Also it's not that oppressive regimes are "reasonable" so much that they act in their own self-interest, and summarily executing foreign journalists is not without risk for them. Consider the Chief in your example, tasked with actually throwing the journo off the cliff. How does he know that if the story blows up internationally, the dictator won't throw him under the bus by claiming that no orders were issued to that effect. In a place where the journalist can be summarily executed, he might be also, so he's going to make sure to CYA somehow if possible, leaving a paper trail or whatever. So really the self-interest goes all the way down, and corruption or oppression doesn't necessarily translate to "do whatever you want to whoever you want". Even in the absence of law, there can be order.

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Saturday December 17 2016, @01:11AM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Saturday December 17 2016, @01:11AM (#442304) Journal

      Then you better don't own DRMed content in the UK. Because you surely won't get the key for that.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
      • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Saturday December 17 2016, @01:36AM

        by Unixnut (5779) on Saturday December 17 2016, @01:36AM (#442312)

        DRM content is an interesting one, because they will get the key for that no problem, just from the company who the files belong to.

        DRM files are not yours, in the eyes of the law. They belong to the company who you are licensing the content from. In such a case, they would seek the keys from the company, if the company refuses, then they get in trouble.