European Union dedicated questionnaire on the Encryption of Data

I'm encrypting my disk now, but I'll give the password to police if they have a search warrant. I'm encrypting so if somebody steals my computer they won't read my data. I think that almost everybody is like me.

Weakening that encryption doesn't help me and doesn't help investigators. Sure, seeing strong encryption over the wire will ring alarms and identify sender and recipient. That works if they actually decrypt all the data sent over the Internet. The workaround for the tenaciuos criminals will be steganography. Narrower band but good enough in most cases. All that effort and damage to honest citizens for nothing.

Re: European Union dedicated questionnaire on the Encryption of Data

#5

Post by detaro » Sun, Nov 27, 2016, 5:49 PM UTC

Surprisingly interesting content for the clickbaity headline: Some excerpts from a questionnaire about how law enforcement deals with encryption answered by various EU governments, with esp. Poland calling for backdoors or weakened encryption.

The full answers are here: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/input_provided_by_ms_on_...

Re: European Union dedicated questionnaire on the Encryption of Data

#6

Post by kenoph » Sun, Nov 27, 2016, 5:52 PM UTC

Killer use of Caps Lock and broken English. Proud of my country. On a serious note, I really do hope that we won't follow USA steps this time. But I'm afraid that the average person doesn't really care for or understand cryptography. Maybe a dickpic approach à la John Oliver could be useful as a way to raise awareness on the matter.

Re: European Union dedicated questionnaire on the Encryption of Data

#7

Post by trendia » Sun, Nov 27, 2016, 5:52 PM UTC

pmontra wrote: post #4

Smart criminals will use strong encryption anyway and won't give the passwords to law enforcement both for data at rest and sent over the Internet. I'm encrypting my disk now, but I'll give the password to police if they have a search warrant. I'm encrypting so if somebody steals my computer they won't read my data. I think that almost everybody is like me. Weakening that encryption doesn't help me and doesn't help i…

The problem is:

How do you handle cases where data appears to be encrypted but it isn't?

Or, the data is encrypted but the suspect has forgotten the password?

Re: European Union dedicated questionnaire on the Encryption of Data

#8

Post by vuanotinv » Sun, Nov 27, 2016, 5:55 PM UTC

pmontra wrote: post #4

Smart criminals will use strong encryption anyway and won't give the passwords to law enforcement both for data at rest and sent over the Internet. I'm encrypting my disk now, but I'll give the password to police if they have a search warrant. I'm encrypting so if somebody steals my computer they won't read my data. I think that almost everybody is like me. Weakening that encryption doesn't help me and doesn't help i…

Dumb people believe this is about whether encrypted data from criminals can be decrypted or not. It's not about that. It's about being able of charging a criminal with something just for using encryption. That way it won't matter if he refuses to give up the key.

Re: European Union dedicated questionnaire on the Encryption of Data

#9

Post by jdavis703 » Sun, Nov 27, 2016, 5:55 PM UTC

pmontra wrote: post #4

Smart criminals will use strong encryption anyway and won't give the passwords to law enforcement both for data at rest and sent over the Internet. I'm encrypting my disk now, but I'll give the password to police if they have a search warrant. I'm encrypting so if somebody steals my computer they won't read my data. I think that almost everybody is like me. Weakening that encryption doesn't help me and doesn't help i…

If the only thing sitting between you and life in prison is murder evidence on your drive, vs. a few years for obstruction of justice for not handing over a password, you'd take the "life in prison" door? I don't think most defendants or lawyers behave as nobly as that.

Re: European Union dedicated questionnaire on the Encryption of Data

#10

Post by ferongr » Sun, Nov 27, 2016, 6:02 PM UTC

kenoph wrote: post #6

Killer use of Caps Lock and broken English. Proud of my country. On a serious note, I really do hope that we won't follow USA steps this time. But I'm afraid that the average person doesn't really care for or understand cryptography. Maybe a dickpic approach à la John Oliver could be useful as a way to raise awareness on the matter.

When don't need inflammatory personas like John Oliver in Europe.