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The New York Times reports that President Obama met yesterday with the nation’s top tech executives and company officials on a host of cybersecurity issues and the threats posed by increasingly sophisticated hackers amid a deepening estrangement between Silicon Valley and the government. “What has struck me is the enormous degree of hostility between Silicon Valley and the government,” says Herb Lin. “The relationship has been poisoned, and it’s not going to recover anytime soon.”
American firms are increasingly concerned about international competitiveness, and that means making a very public show of their efforts to defeat American intelligence-gathering by installing newer, harder-to-break encryption systems and demonstrating their distance from the United States government. “In some cases that is driving them to resistance to Washington,” says Obama’s cybersecurity coordinator, Michael Daniel. “But it’s not that simple. In other cases, with what’s going on in China,” where Beijing is insisting that companies turn over the software that is their lifeblood, “they are very interested in getting Washington’s help.”
Silicon Valley execs have also been fuming quietly over the government’s use of zero-day flaws. “The government is realizing they can’t just blow into town and let bygones be bygones,” says Eric Grosse, Google’s vice president of security and privacy. “Our business depends on trust. If you lose it, it takes years to regain.”
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Sunday February 15 2015, @06:40AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Sunday February 15 2015, @07:46AM
Each of those companies should just go home in implement encryption on their services, using only user-held keys. With no backdoors.
It was their willingness to roll over without creating a huge legal battle in the courts that got them into this situation. Giving that foot in the door to the Feds just encouraged them to make further legal loop holes to drive trucks through.
I suspect these companies will end up sending someone to all the meetings just to be ahead of the curve, and try to steer away from the most damaging federal access demands, but in the end everybody with a lick of sense has already lost trust in these companies.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Sunday February 15 2015, @08:04AM
Until they do, seem like mega [mega.co.nz] is extending the type of services: storage, collaboration and (soon) email/chat.
I swear I'm inclined nowadays to trust a scoundrel more than the establishment (and certainly more than the govt).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 15 2015, @08:17PM
> I swear I'm inclined nowadays to trust a scoundrel more than the establishment (and certainly more than the govt).
That's unsurprising. The more they treat everyone like a criminal, the more criminals will be indistinguishable from regular people.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 15 2015, @03:49PM
... their willingness to roll over without creating a huge legal battle in the courts
Yahoo tried. The government used a secret [slashdot.org] court [techdirt.com].
With impossible penalties [theguardian.com]:
The US government threatened to fine Yahoo $250,000 a day if it refused to hand over user data to the National Security Agency
$250,000 daily fine over NSA data refusal was set to double 'every week'
Yahoo CEO Says It Would Be Treason To Decline To Cooperate With the NSA [slashdot.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 15 2015, @04:21PM
If the environment in the united states is not good for business, relocate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 16 2015, @03:23AM
We could also try restoring the rule of, and equality under, law...
It's sort of akin to MS-13 setting up shop in your garage. It's your garage, and they're the criminals. You can move, sure, but should you have to? It may be easier to just move for a while, but the world is, unfortunately, not lacking in criminal gangs.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 15 2015, @06:26PM
Yeah, Page, Zuck and Meyer all sent the message, "All these petabytes of user data and content we've been collecting and analyzing? We do this is for OUR commercial advantage and for those we choose to share with, like Axciom. Government, keep your paws off! When you do it, that amounts to invasion of individual privacy!"