SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the elections-are-coming-up-soon-vs-PGP dept.
Bill Aimed at Ending 'Warrant-Proof' Encryption Introduced in House:
Referred to as the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act, the bill aims to put a stop to criminals using “warrant-proof encryption and other technological advances” to hide their activity from authorities, Congresswoman Ann Wagner (R-MO), who introduced the bill, said.
“It is time tech companies stand with criminal investigators and the public to make clear they are committed to rooting out perpetrators who use their services to commit horrific crimes. As the digital world advances, so must our legislative solutions to investigate crimes that hit hardest the most vulnerable in our society,” Rep. Wagner commented.
Law enforcement agencies have long argued that strong encryption hinders their ability to conduct successful investigations in certain cases, often asking for backdoors that would provide them fast access to data of interest, but tech companies have opposed these requests, arguing that backdoors would introduce serious security and privacy risks.
The legislation would require tech companies to provide authorities with access to encrypted user data, while also stating that the Attorney General would report on which companies can comply. Furthermore, the government would offer compensation to companies that comply with the legislation.
Previously:
(2020-07-07) US Senate Panel OK's EARN IT Act
(2020-06-27) Senators Introduce "Balanced" Bill That Aims to End Warrant-Proof Encryption
(2020-06-11) Plundering of Crypto Keys From Ultrasecure SGX Sends Intel Scrambling Again
(2020-06-06) Zoom Says Free Users Won't Get End-to-End Encryption so FBI and Police Can Access Calls
(2020-05-19) AG Barr Seeks 'Legislative Solution' to Make Companies Unlock Phones
(2020-05-19) FBI Successfully Broke Into a Gunman's iPhone, but Still Very Angry at Apple
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 01 2020, @01:20PM (6 children)
Encryption law gets passed. It doesn't affect services like Gmail because all of the communications can already be read by Google and law enforcement can get it with a warrant. Encryption will still be used, but not end-to-end encryption.
Peon gets caught with encrypted drive, suspected of CP, tax evasion, or whatever, and refuses to give up the password to law enforcement. Fine, hit them with a prison sentence for the encryption crime.
That's how it will go down if these laws get passed. For many people nothing will change.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday August 01 2020, @02:39PM (5 children)
Then, one fine day, someone attempts to comply and the password doesn't work. Maybe the data is corrupt, maybe their memory is corrupt, but either way, they're going to jail for an "encryption crime".
Just ask anyone who has ever worked in IT support how frequently people forget important passwords.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 01 2020, @03:38PM (2 children)
Court: You shouldn't have used encryption in the first place. Throw them in the hole.
If a law gets passed and it survives the Constitutional challenges, you use encryption at your own risk.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday August 01 2020, @05:03PM (1 child)
If you're handling medical records, it may be illegal to NOT use encryption.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 01 2020, @06:04PM
don't fret they will make an exclusion for their slaveCrypt brand encryption.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 01 2020, @03:55PM
Isn't this the kind of thing which containers within containers are for? Simply use both and populate the special one with regular file and have a script to periodically change some files every time you use the hidden container.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 02 2020, @04:17AM
As someone who works in IT, people never forget important passwords. The passwords just magically change from what they used to be or someone in our department changed it. That simple fact must be true since I hear it at least once a day.