from the exercise-rights-to-keep-crypto-strong dept.
Senator Ron Wyden spoke to RightsCon about the Crypto Wars following the FBI dropping its case against Apple:
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has put out a call to arms to digital rights activists, asking them to join in a SOPA-style effort to defeat upcoming efforts to weaken encryption. In a wide-ranging speech that covered J Edgar Hoover, Miranda Rights, the Founding Fathers and the Amazon Echo, the Oregon Senator warned that despite the recent decision by the FBI to drop its case against Apple, "as sure as night follows day," the issue is going to return and it will be necessary to fight legislative efforts to reduce the effectiveness of encryption.
"I will block any plan that would weaken strong encryption," he told the RightsCon conference in San Francisco. "The expected legislation will be a lose-lose for all of us: less security and less liberty." He also railed against the notion that the current debate over technology and encryption was a privacy versus security debate, arguing that it is more "security versus more security." Instead, Wyden said, he wanted to refocus the debate, and called for "a new compact for security and liberty in the digital age."
Also at Reuters, The Guardian, The Hill.
Here is the speech Wyden gave at RightsCon.
Related Stories
Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) are preparing legislation that would regulate encryption and potentially mandate "backdoors." The Senate Judiciary Committee has been meeting with tech lobbyists and at least three researchers to come up with a "secure way" to allow only law enforcement to access encrypted information:
US lawmakers are yet again trying to force backdoors into tech products, allowing Uncle Sam, and anyone else with the necessary skills, to rifle through people's private encrypted information. Two years after her effort to introduce new legislation died, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) is again spearheading an effort to make it possible for law enforcement to access any information sent or stored electronically. Such a backdoor could be exploited by skilled miscreants to also read people's files and communications, crypto-experts continue to warn.
Tech lobbyists this month met the Senate Judiciary Committee to discuss the proposed legislation – a sign that politicians have changed tactics since trying, and failing, to force through new laws back in 2016. New York District Attorney and backdoor advocate Cyrus Vance (D-NY) also briefed the same committee late last month about why he felt new legislation was necessary. Vance has been arguing for fresh anti-encryption laws for several years, even producing a 42-page report back in November 2015 that walked through how the inability to trawl through people's personal communications was making his job harder.
Tech lobbyists and Congressional staffers have been leaking details of the meetings to, among others, Politico and the New York Times.
From the NYT article:
A National Academy of Sciences committee completed an 18-month study of the encryption debate, publishing a report last month. While it largely described challenges to solving the problem, one section cited presentations by several technologists who are developing potential approaches. They included Ray Ozzie, a former chief software architect at Microsoft; Stefan Savage, a computer science professor at the University of California, San Diego; and Ernie Brickell, a former chief security officer at Intel.
[...] The researchers, Mr. Ozzie said, recognized that "this issue is not going away," and were trying to foster "constructive dialogue" rather than declaring that no solution is possible.
Also at The Hill.
Previously: New Paper on The Risks of "Responsible Encryption"
Report On Device Encryption Suggests A Few Ways Forward For Law Enforcement
Senator Wyden Calls on Digital Rights Activists to Block Legislative Efforts to Weaken Encryption
(Score: 3, Funny) by edIII on Thursday March 31 2016, @11:17PM
I would really like to believe this article has nothing to do with the 1st :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday March 31 2016, @11:19PM
https://twitter.com/officialjaden/status/329768040235413504 [twitter.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anne Nonymous on Thursday March 31 2016, @11:23PM
This theme should be called Napoleon Dynamite.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday March 31 2016, @11:29PM
I 2nd the motion to add this to our listed themes as Napolean Dynamite.
After I wiped the blood from my eyes, it's not actually that bad. Kind of grows on you. The star background totally reminds me of Star Control II.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday April 01 2016, @01:28AM
It needs at least one tweak. When you moderate, the list of moderations at the top of the page is black text on the black background.
One job constant is that good employers have low turnover, so opportunities to join good employers are relatively rare.
(Score: 3, Informative) by darnkitten on Friday April 01 2016, @07:01PM
Right! Those should blink, or fade in and out!
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday March 31 2016, @11:35PM
I object! Where are the <blink>s?
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by Kell on Thursday March 31 2016, @11:53PM
Shhhh, you'll give them ideas!
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 1) by tekk on Friday April 01 2016, @04:23AM
The mean guys in the browser development business got rid of them :c
Gone as of Firefox 23, IE and WebKit never supported it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 01 2016, @06:32AM
Rejoice! It is possible to reimplement it with CSS.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday April 01 2016, @12:44PM
Fly, you fools!
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Insightful) by drgibbon on Friday April 01 2016, @12:09AM
Looks like we're in beta, great news, big changes coming!
Certified Soylent Fresh!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 01 2016, @02:17AM
I can tolerate the colours, but if I wanted animated pictures then I could go and get clippy.
?nobeta=1 didn't seem to fix it. How sad.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Friday April 01 2016, @03:15PM
This guy sounds great, like one of the few Congresspeople in Washington who really has our interests at heart and isn't completely corrupt like Hillary.
Hopefully Bernie will get the nomination, and then he should pick Wyden as his running mate. We could really use someone tech-savvy like him in the White House.