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posted by martyb on Sunday September 01 2019, @07:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the Seckret-Codez dept.

Bruce Schneier has written a short piece over at Lawfare in response to ongoing calls to weaken encryption. Unlike during the cold war there is no longer a distinction between consumer grade encryption and military encryption. This is because customized encryption is both more expensive and less secure, because it is unique, non-standard, and untested.

In his keynote address at the International Conference on Cybersecurity, Attorney General William Barr argued that companies should weaken encryption systems to gain access to consumer devices for criminal investigations. Barr repeated a common fallacy about a difference between military-grade encryption and consumer encryption: "After all, we are not talking about protecting the nation's nuclear launch codes. Nor are we necessarily talking about the customized encryption used by large business enterprises to protect their operations. We are talking about consumer products and services such as messaging, smart phones, e-mail, and voice and data applications."

The thing is, that distinction between military and consumer products largely doesn't exist. All of those "consumer products" Barr wants access to are used by government officials—heads of state, legislators, judges, military commanders and everyone else—worldwide. They're used by election officials, police at all levels, nuclear power plant operators, CEOs and human rights activists. They're critical to national security as well as personal security.

Earlier on SN:
U.S. Attorney General William Barr Demands Backdoored Encryption (2019)
FBI: End-to-End Encryption Problem "Infects" Law Enforcement and Intelligence Community (2019)
The Crypto Warrior--Why Politicians Want a ‘Back Door’ into Your Devices—and Why it Will Never Work (2016)


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 01 2019, @01:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 01 2019, @01:05PM (#888461)

    Nitpick: as far as I understand it, the rank and file hard right support Israel because they seek the end times. The upper class right support Israel because it's an excuse to sell weapons, and to stoke regional conflicts where they can sell even more weapons to our own military. The Trump supporter in the Baptist support down the street love Israel because he can't wait for the rapture. The Trump supporter who has lunch with Pentagon staff loves Israel because she can't wait for her next yacht.

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