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The new FBI Director Christopher Wray has been repeating the broken rhetoric of the Crypto Wars:
In recent testimony before Congress, the director of the FBI has again highlighted what the government sees as the problem of easy-to-use, on-by-default, strong encryption.
In prepared remarks from last Thursday, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that encryption presents a "significant challenge to conducting lawful court-ordered access," he said, again using the longstanding government moniker "Going Dark."
The statement was just one portion of his testimony about the agency's priorities for the coming year.
The FBI and its parent agency, the Department of Justice, have recently stepped up public rhetoric about the so-called dangers of "Going Dark." In recent months, both Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein have given numerous public statements about this issue.
Remember to use encryption irresponsibly, and stay salty, my FBI friends.
Previously: FBI Chief Calls for National Talk Over Encryption vs. Safety
Federal Court Rules That the FBI Does Not Have to Disclose Name of iPhone Hacking Vendor
PureVPN Logs Helped FBI Net Alleged Cyberstalker
FBI Failed to Access 7,000 Encrypted Mobile Devices
Great, Now There's "Responsible Encryption"
FBI Bemoans Phone Encryption After Texas Shooting, but Refuses Apple's Help
DOJ: Strong Encryption That We Don't Have Access to is "Unreasonable"
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Tuesday December 12 2017, @01:54PM (5 children)
In my parents' day, the FBI and similar organizations enjoyed a huge amount of respect. Today, as soon as they open their mouths, we call them out for the corrupt, power-hungry idiots that they have become. Never talk to the FBI [popehat.com], FBI entrapment [businessinsider.com], etc, etc, etc.
How did it come to this?
Is it just Pournelle's Iron Law, i.e., a powerful bureaucracy wanting to preserve and expand its power, at the expense of its actual mission? It is the 1% living in their own bubble, having no idea that the rest of us view them with all the tenderness we reserve for leprosy and the Black Death? Or is it an actual, active conspiracy - a desire to grow government power, to prevent democracy from actually functioning, so that those in power remain in power?
I don't know, but thanks to the Internet we are (for the moment at least) able to see and discuss the proposals pushed by our governmental
diseasesrepresentatives.Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 12 2017, @05:53PM
I bet its a combination. There are active conspiracies, the problem is that the word was deliberately tied to craziness. Even saying the word conspiracy makes people look at you funny. Why do you think that is?
Many conspiracies don't require entire departments be in on it, just those at the top. Even small actions that seem weird but not a big deal can lead to nefarious actions. The gov has near total transparency on citizens these days, I think the best way to bring balance back is to bring total transparency to government officials.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday December 12 2017, @07:18PM (2 children)
I'd throw Hanlon's Razor [wikipedia.org] into the mix as a major contributor as well.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday December 12 2017, @08:26PM (1 child)
Hanlon's Razor has long since lost its edge in cases like this. When stupidity leads to national problems, it's malice.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday December 12 2017, @08:45PM
I hear you, but you give people far too much credit, Azuma. In this caes, I'm not talking about willful ignorance either.
As George Carlin pointed out [goodreads.com]:
That's not to say there aren't malicious scumbags out there, but you can't fix stupid.
And I said it was a major contributor -- not the sole reason.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday December 13 2017, @02:28PM
The difference is access to information. It's harder to respect them today because it's harder for them to keep their bullshit secret.
Because their actions certainly aren't new. This is the organization that routinely threatened civil rights leaders; that routinely arrested thousands of innocent men in witch hunts for anti-war protesters and "communists"; that broke into the offices of senators they suspected of merely wanting diplomatic relations with foreign powers; that ran secret wiretaps on Supreme Court justices....the FBI has been a criminal enterprise since the day it was founded; the only difference today is that we occasionally hear about it.