Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
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Re: Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
#2Here's a reminder why backdooring or otherwise weakening encryption is a bad idea (PDF): https://www.schneier.com/academic/paperfiles/paper-keys-unde...
Re: Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
#3> The context here is that France and Germany have suffered a spate of terrorist attacks over the past year, including a co-ordinated attack in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130; a July 2016 attack in Nice where a truck driver ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day; and a stabbing in a church in Northern France that killed an elderly priest.
To put this in perspective, about 700 people would die from homicide in France in a normal year, and about 600,000 would die of all causes (http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=fr&v=26). The unusually high amount of terrorism in the last year, accounts for 0.03% of all deaths.
That terrorism is seen as an urgent problem just highlights the irrationality of decision-making in a democracy. It poses no significant mortality risk to Europeans.
Re: Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
#4I don't think that it's possible to ban encryption. I can use gpg to encrypt anything and send it as a text via any channel. I can do anything in my computer.
They could ban encryption for wide audience, that's true. But those who need to hide something, they will have access to encryption.
Re: Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
#5> The context here is that France and Germany have suffered a spate of terrorist attacks over the past year, including a co-ordinated attack in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130; a July 2016 attack in Nice where a truck driver ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day; and a stabbing in a church in Northern France that killed an elderly priest. To put this in perspective, about 700 people would die from homi…
I agree with your idea, but I think you should add a few logical links in your statements to make it clearer. (and I live very near la Bastille, so according to the politicians I should be shocked)
Furthermore, the people who did those crimes did not use any form of encryption but discussed on their playstation while playing Call of Duty. So there's that too.
Re: Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
#6> The context here is that France and Germany have suffered a spate of terrorist attacks over the past year, including a co-ordinated attack in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130; a July 2016 attack in Nice where a truck driver ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day; and a stabbing in a church in Northern France that killed an elderly priest. To put this in perspective, about 700 people would die from homi…
Fact: The attack in November in Paris was coordinated using unencrypted text messages.
Conclusion: Let's ban PGP! People are dying!
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/11/paris-police-fi...
Re: Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
#7> The context here is that France and Germany have suffered a spate of terrorist attacks over the past year, including a co-ordinated attack in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130; a July 2016 attack in Nice where a truck driver ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day; and a stabbing in a church in Northern France that killed an elderly priest. To put this in perspective, about 700 people would die from homi…
I agree with your idea, but I think you should add a few logical links in your statements to make it clearer. (and I live very near la Bastille, so according to the politicians I should be shocked ) Furthermore, the people who did those crimes did not use any form of encryption but discussed on their playstation while playing Call of Duty. So there's that too.
Does anyone have any proof of this?
Sounds like fear-mongering bullshit to me.
Re: Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
#8> The context here is that France and Germany have suffered a spate of terrorist attacks over the past year, including a co-ordinated attack in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130; a July 2016 attack in Nice where a truck driver ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day; and a stabbing in a church in Northern France that killed an elderly priest. To put this in perspective, about 700 people would die from homi…
no significant mortality risk to Europeans.
The rational behind being wary about terrorism is as follows.
1. Normal homicides are random individual actions, and they are under reasonable control by standard policing. In other words, if we continue policing as we do now, normal homicide rate will remain constant.
2. Terrorism is not random individual action, but rather organised violence by large groups seeking power. If we continue policing as we do now, terrorism will increase, up to a point where the terrorists take over and are the new rulers.
(Compare for example with the reaction to the AIDS epidemics in the early 1980s. The lazy whatabout-ist could have said (and indeed did say): "Oh AIDS just affects a few gays and needle-sharing heroin addicts, whatabout the orders of magnitude more who die of the flu and cancer, no need to worry about AIDS".)
If you believe the two 'axioms' above, then it's perfectly reasonable to adapt policing in the light of the current wave of terrorism that's been spreading in Europe (and not only there).
Note that I'm not saying that encryption should or should not be banned, or that either way is/isn't a good way of fighting terrorism. I'm just pointing out the weakness of the "but whatabout XYZ" argument.
Re: Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
#9> The context here is that France and Germany have suffered a spate of terrorist attacks over the past year, including a co-ordinated attack in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130; a July 2016 attack in Nice where a truck driver ploughed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day; and a stabbing in a church in Northern France that killed an elderly priest. To put this in perspective, about 700 people would die from homi…
Fact: The attack in November in Paris was coordinated using unencrypted text messages. Conclusion: Let's ban PGP! People are dying! http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-policy/2015/11/paris-police-fi...
Yes Minister calls this "politician's logic".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trw1PbQt_Yo
Something must be done; this is something; therefore, we must do it.
Re: Encryption under fire in Europe as France and Germany call for decrypt law
#10I don't think that it's possible to ban encryption. I can use gpg to encrypt anything and send it as a text via any channel. I can do anything in my computer. They could ban encryption for wide audience, that's true. But those who need to hide something, they will have access to encryption.
> I can do anything in my computer.
For that, free access to your computer is required. This isn't the case for the vast majority of smart phones and becomes less true for laptops or desktops as the discussions around Windows 10 show. Even if you install Linux, there is Intel ME and the like.
Using Linux singles you out. Three letter agencies will have to target only the few ones with it via ME or the like. Only if big enterprises will start to adopt Linux this will become infeasible and under scrutiny of big IT organizations.