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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: 4, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday January 10 2018, @09:23AM (2 children)
OR criminal activities. Could include a whole host of crimes including murder, fraud, hacking, etc.
As for when they do claim high numbers of terrorists:
The Sting: How the FBI Created a Terrorist [theintercept.com]
The FBI Pressured a Lonely Young Man Into a Bomb Plot. He Tried to Back Out. Now He’s Serving Life in Prison. [theintercept.com]
Undercover FBI Agents Swarm the Internet Seeking Contact With Terrorists [theintercept.com] - "The FBI’s online activities are so pervasive that the bureau sometimes finds itself investigating its own people."
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @09:34AM
Ba la la la leh leh leh! Ba la la la leh leh leh! Ba la la la leh leh leh!
Yeah, get him! Jab your magic fingers into his bare snappyhole and tickle it until there's nothin' left!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 10 2018, @06:43PM
And littering (ie leaving a phone behind) is criminal right?
Or doing whatever it was that gave them cause to confiscate the phone...