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Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

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Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#51
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder why? NSLs: https://www.eff.org/issues/national-security-letters/faq Dragnet/Geofence warrants: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/google-tracked-his-bike... and https://www.logically.ai/articles/geofence-warrants-on-the-r... Dragnet/Mass-surveillance keyword warrants: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2021/10/04/googl... Dragnet/mass-scanning of online storage: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thom…

LEOs? Can only think if Low Earth Orbits.

> LEOs? Can only think if Low Earth Orbits.

It's a catch-all term for all the law enforcement people. There's now so many organizations that can get your data through warrants, and some even without warrants, so that's a convenient term to use. And especially if you're not a citizen/resident of the US since the Fourth Amendment does not apply to you. But it's not like the 4A has stopped them or slowed them down anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_officer#United...

Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#52
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very much doubt it. Law enforcement doesn’t seem too concerned about regular old HTTPS. I wonder why?

HTTPS is not end-to-end encrypted (it kinda would be if we used P2P but we don't) so you can subpoena the server.

It is absolutely end-to-end encrypted. However, one of the ends is usually a server.

Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#53

> and it will let the use of encryption be evidence in lawsuits and criminal trials How long until the comparisons to East Germany start? America is apparently gearing up for "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear", with many seemingly agreeing with this sentiment. Perhaps more importantly, how have major journalistic networks not written about this bill in the worst possible light? When your sources w…

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Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#54

I've been reading about this same omniscience-lust of our corrupt republican representative democracy since the early '90s. I had thought that it simply sought to become more subtle, more refined over time. However, like any patzer, it is merely satisfied to give check where it appears. Are we drawn in bitter impasse, or is there some intervening move to which we can avail ourselves? The best I can muster (other than…

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Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#55
post #19

If this passes wouldn't this accelerate the decentralized encrypted communication movement? How can government stop that?

For example, by forcing Apple to remove the apps from the Appstore.

(No sideloading is so great, Apple fanboys here say, no big deal, just do your research and buy another device. )

Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#56
post #53

> and it will let the use of encryption be evidence in lawsuits and criminal trials How long until the comparisons to East Germany start? America is apparently gearing up for "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear", with many seemingly agreeing with this sentiment. Perhaps more importantly, how have major journalistic networks not written about this bill in the worst possible light? When your sources w…

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Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#57
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very much doubt it. Law enforcement doesn’t seem too concerned about regular old HTTPS. I wonder why?

> I wonder why? NSLs: https://www.eff.org/issues/national-security-letters/faq Dragnet/Geofence warrants: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/google-tracked-his-bike... and https://www.logically.ai/articles/geofence-warrants-on-the-r... Dragnet/Mass-surveillance keyword warrants: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2021/10/04/googl... Dragnet/mass-scanning of online storage: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thom…

None of these are the reason. The reason is that HTTPS traffic is generally between a service provider (i.e., company) and an end user, and the former can be easily subpoenaed and compelled to disclose data during an ongoing investigation into the latter.

The USG doesn't need to (and doesn't bother to) break HTTPS for domestic LEO, because existing mechanisms are easier and approved by the courts.

Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#58
post #36

I wish HN was better at evaluating anything around this, HN's response to anything on this topic makes it hard to know what the actual truth is. Maybe this act is as bad as people are saying it is, but the Apple policy wasn't and the response here was the same. I'll defer judgement until I can actually read it.

> the Apple policy wasn't The Apple policy on your device ratting you out is abominable and anyone telling you otherwise is trying to sell you a brand. What you deem illegal might not be the same thing Apple is told to treat as illegal. In this country or elsewhere. You phone should not be the secret police.

This kind of response illustrates my point.

The apple policy was likely about coming up with a way to enable encrypted photos on iCloud while still having some privacy preserving form of CSAM detection. Since it was only enabled when iCloud photos was enabled it was better for privacy on net than the status quo (unencrypted iCloud photos that are accessible to apple and scanned anyway).

Now we may end up with a worse outcome as a result.

The Bluetooth exposure notification design early in the pandemic was similarly privacy preserving and the average HN response was similarly stupid.

There are just some topics this forum is not a reliable source of accurate information about and this is unfortunately one of them.

This isn’t because I don’t think access to real encryption is incredibly important (I do) - I just think it’s important to get the details right. Otherwise we’ll just get dismissed on these issues for ignoring the specifics and crying wolf on everything.

Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#59
post #47

Dianne Feinstein, senior senator from California and presumably elected with majority support from Silicon Valley, is one of the co-sponsors of the bill. Talk about being out of touch. I also have no doubt that she wouldn't be able to explain a single line of text in the bill if asked.

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Re: Key senators have voted for the anti-encryption EARN IT act

#60
Incredible, once again the Senate is completely incapable of doing anything good but gets their shit together whenever it’s time to do something stupid and terrible. Would be better to just vote against the majority going forward, at least try to tie things up so they can do nothing instead of what they end up doing whenever they get around to doing something.

Truly amazing how Chuck Schumer gets a pass in the media for being so utterly worthless.

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