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from the trust-us-we're-the-government dept.
The Washington Post has a story which says:
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray on Tuesday renewed a call for tech companies to help law enforcement officials gain access to encrypted smartphones, describing it as a "major public safety issue."
Wray said the bureau was unable to gain access to the content of 7,775 devices in fiscal 2017 — more than half of all the smartphones it tried to crack in that time period — despite having a warrant from a judge.
"Being unable to access nearly 7,800 devices in a single year is a major public safety issue," he said, taking up a theme that was a signature issue of his predecessor, James B. Comey.
Wray was then quoted as saying:
"We're not interested in the millions of devices of everyday citizens," he said in New York at Fordham University's International Conference on Cyber Security. "We're interested in those devices that have been used to plan or execute terrorist or criminal activities."
He then went on to promote the long-disparaged idea of key escrow:
As an example of a possible compromise, Wray cited a case from New York several years ago. Four major banks, he said, were using a chat messaging platform called Symphony, which was marketed as offering "guaranteed data deletion." State financial regulators became concerned that the chat platform would hamper investigations of Wall Street.
"In response," Wray said, "the four banks reached an agreement with the regulators to ensure responsible use" of Symphony. They agreed to keep a copy of their communications sent through the app for seven years and to store duplicate copies of their encryption keys with independent custodians not controlled by the banks, he said.
To me this is more of the utter nonsense the government has spouted. When will they understand that key escrow only works when one trusts the government and the keeper of the keys?
Previously:
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday January 10 2018, @09:19AM (5 children)
The bit that the US government has forgotten, and which most governments forget, is that they are not our master. We are their masters. They cannot demand, and get, anything they want from us because they are servants we have hired to do a job we want doing. We employ the FBI to fight crime, not to fight our freedom. If they demand such things as this from us, they want to reduce us to slaves beholden to them.
The FBI, the NSA, and the CIA are the threats to public safety now, and I worry about them far more than I worry about anything else, because there are thousands of them, working everyday, stealing billions of our dollars, and invading every level of our society. They're an existential threat.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Wednesday January 10 2018, @09:48AM (1 child)
The FBI, the NSA, and the CIA are the threats to public safety now.
Indeed. It would appear they are "crypto-fascists"!
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Wednesday January 10 2018, @06:04PM
Why the crypto? There's nothing hidden about their fascism, in the colloquial sense. If they think that corporations should have the right to good encryption, then there's nothing hidden about the fascism at all.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @09:48AM
There are certain DC offices where people are paid to do almost no real work. Telework and goof off most of the week, come in 1 day a week. Weeks or months allocated to write a report that takes a day or two.
You get a choice of wasted money or trampled freedom. You don't get a choice.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Wednesday January 10 2018, @02:24PM
Idealistic to the end.
As a patriotic American, I am proud to stand up and cheer for the freedoms we once had.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 11 2018, @07:13PM
"If they demand such things as this from us, they want to reduce us to slaves beholden to them."
you probably already know all of this but...we were born slaves in their eyes. that's why your parents got a license from some fat pig to marry and had you at the government's baby manufacturing center/warehouse(hospital). they even gave you a slave number when you were born. your labor is owed to international banksters for the fake green backs they loan to the fed gov. law enforcement agencies are nothing but slave catchers for the straw bosses.