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posted by mrpg on Wednesday December 06 2017, @11:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the sure-why-not dept.

Germany's Interior Minister Wants Backdoors In Cars, Digital Devices

According to a new report from German newspaper Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland (RND), Germany's Interior Minister, Thomas de Maizièr, has written a draft proposal in which he would like German cars, as well as other digital devices being sold in Germany, to grant police backdoor access. The minister is expected to present the proposal at next week's Ministry of Interior conference.

According to the RND report, the German minister would like intelligence agencies and police to gain "exclusive" access to cars, as well as digital devices such as computers, mobile devices, kitchen appliances, and smart TVs. The "back door" access would, in essence, allow the government to bypass the security protections some of these devices have. The police have been complaining that sometimes they can't install intercept equipment on some cars because their security systems are "too good."

Maizièr would also like cars and digital devices to have a "kill switch" the government can use at will to shut down certain devices, allegedly to stop cybercrime.


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  • (Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday December 06 2017, @12:06PM (7 children)

    by inertnet (4071) on Wednesday December 06 2017, @12:06PM (#606098) Journal

    Nobody wants this but that has never stopped a politician. When elections are coming, they just turn into Santa Claus and promise to make the world a better place. After the elections they start showing their contempt for their voters again.

    Also his name ends with an 'e' so there are some typos in TFS.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @12:12PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @12:12PM (#606101)

    We need these maggots to publicly pledge that they will not support this kind of madness. No pledge? No vote.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @12:23PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @12:23PM (#606107)

      Good luck finding a non-hilarious number of voters who, at election time, can tell you the correct number of choices in that vote, much less what each of their platforms was 4 years ago and how they (didn't) act in the time between.

      And I don't get me started about the mental resolve of foregoing the certain prospect of a golden future (as promised) just because the candidate made a single, negligible, stupid small mistake a long time ago ...

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:04PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @02:04PM (#606126)

        just because the candidate made a single, negligible, stupid small mistake a long time ago ...

        If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @01:45PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2017, @01:45PM (#606123)

    > Nobody wants this

    What? Nobody wants safety? Nobody wants security? Nobody wants a Better Life?

    The fact is that everybody wants it.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by inertnet on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:10PM (1 child)

      by inertnet (4071) on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:10PM (#606149) Journal

      Okay, so make it voluntary and see how many people will opt-in to having their whole life monitored. Or you can organize a referendum about it.

      We have the technology for a real democracy where everybody could vote on every political issue. But it will never be applied because those in power will never give up that power to the people.

      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday December 06 2017, @04:43PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 06 2017, @04:43PM (#606199) Journal

        Simply making something evil be offered as voluntary is not enough to get everyone to opt in to it. You MUST offer them something of value. Like a paper coupon for some worthless crap. Or even a coupon code made of 100% recycled electrons.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:38PM

      by tangomargarine (667) on Wednesday December 06 2017, @03:38PM (#606162)

      Sometimes good intentions aren't worth the tradeoff.

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"