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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

#291

Post by throwthh436 »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #287

There's so much "dem boomers and normies don't understand technology" in this thread, not to mention hyperbolic statements about the end of all privacy, and I feel fairly confident that the vast majority of commenters have, like myself, not read the bill. Not that most of us are likely to understand precisely what it means without a legal background anyway. Is there a competent analysis of the bill I can read? I thin…

Read this techdirt article. Make sure to click and read all the links within the article. Also make sure to read the PDF of Wyden's child safety bill.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20220202/17411648407/senat...

Edit: They got other articles on the same topic, collected here:

https://www.techdirt.com/blog/?tag=earn+it

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

#293

Post by throwthh436 »

specialist wrote: post #203
EGreg wrote: post #140

To test whether HN has become an echo chamber censoring any viewpoints they disagree with, I will share my actual viewpoint on end-to-end encryption. I have posted it elsewhere in the past: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25030085 First, my bona fides: I am a huge proponent of decentralization, empowering people and giving them control over their own data, relationships, and identity. I distrust large states and…

Thank you for posting your vision. It's so easy to just criticize. Divining and then advocating for a better world is really hard. Pretty sure I agree with most of your points. Especially wrt EFF.org; after all these years, I still can't figure out what they want. It'd take me a (long) while to determine if I agree with your conclusions, because this is hard hard topic. -- I was also weened as an anarcho-libertarian.…

There's already a bill that advocates for a better world for children. But it seems like it won't be passed:

https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-gilli...

EARN IT actually undermines child safety:

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20220202/17411648407/senat...

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

#294

Post by throwthh436 »

onikolas7 wrote: post #124

In my mind "Think of the children" is synonymous with "ulterior motive". After reading the comments here, I am adding CSAM to the list of synonyms.

There's a bill that genuinely thinks of the children:

https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-gilli...

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

#295

Post by BitwiseFool »

atlantas wrote: post #285
jimhefferon wrote: post #239

US folks who are interested in writing their Senators can find information at https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?OrderBy... FWIW, I sent the email below (largely cribbed from the EFF). Dear : I am a constituent. I urge you to oppose the EARN IT act, S.3538. It does not strike a reasonable balance between fighting crimes and the rights of users to privacy and encryption. The bill empowers every state…

Not only urge them to oppose it, but make it clear that it's a dealbreaker. I will vote you out if you support this bill. End of story.

>"I will vote you out if you support this bill. End of story. "

I wish this threat would work on Senators who don't represent purple states. Come hell or high water, my home state will re-elect the same Democrats until the day they die or retire.

Edit: Yes, we can try to vote for a different Democrat in the primary but that rarely ever succeeds, especially against a tenured incumbent. I wish there was a runoff system so the vote isn't split amongst ~6 competitors and the incumbent.

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

#296

Post by brimble »

pyuser583 wrote: post #8
mawise wrote: post #4

I haven't tried reading the text of The Act, most of the press about it focuses on E2EE-type messaging systems. So presumably if this passes, Signal would have to move offshore or something? (for example) But what about HTTPS certificates, would The Act have any effect on them? Would there be any legal issues with (for example) running your own Matrix server? And what about hosting providers (instead of platforms). W…

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

Most or all of the major trust chains that underpin it are compromised, would be my guess.

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

#297

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

guerrilla wrote: post #255
MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easier to suppose that some politicians are paying attention to what their voters are motivated enough to write to them about. How much effect it has in the real world is hard to say of course.

I don't know why you'd think that's easier to suppose. Seems naive. How does listening to you benefit them? Listening to lobbyists, on the other hand...

Listening to me does nothing. I still think local representives pay attention to when many people express concerns.

Lobbying seems to be more of an issue in central government in the UK, not so much at the local level. But I do agree they have outsize influence.

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

#298

Post by woodruffw »

pyuser583 wrote: post #277
woodruffw wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is. The person I'm responding to seems to be implying that the USG doesn't worry about HTTPS because they've broken it or otherwise extralegally subverted it. I'm saying that the USG doesn't worry about HTTPS because they have effective legal mechanisms for domestic investigations, and using extralegal means domestically is more of a headache than it's worth.

I’m the guy who said “law enforcement doesn’t seem to care about HTTPS, I wonder why.” 1. HTTPS relies heavily on DNS. It’s as secure as DNS is. Nuff said. 2. As has been said, there’s law enforcement can get the logs. Not hard. 3. The way the web currently works strongly encourages users to wear a “name tag.” It’s hard to take that name tag off. HTTPS doesn’t help with that. HTTPS is very important, but has much nar…

> 1. HTTPS relies heavily on DNS. It’s as secure as DNS is. Nuff said.

I don't think this is true: HTTPS (and TLS >= 1.3) provide a suite of protections that mostly address perceived weaknesses in DNS (ECH, ESNI, CT logging, HSTS, etc.).

As for DNS itself: DoH and DoT is widely available, and my understanding is that all major browsers currently support one or the other. I've been using outbound DoH for at least two years at this point via Pi-hole.

I interpreted "law enforcement doesn't seem to care [...]" as a claim that domestic LEO has meaningfully broken HTTPS on general traffic, which I don't believe is the case. But if you meant that they don't care because they have legal access mechanisms that already suit their purposes, then I agree.

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

#299

Post by colinmhayes »

atlantas wrote: post #285
jimhefferon wrote: post #239

US folks who are interested in writing their Senators can find information at https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm?OrderBy... FWIW, I sent the email below (largely cribbed from the EFF). Dear : I am a constituent. I urge you to oppose the EARN IT act, S.3538. It does not strike a reasonable balance between fighting crimes and the rights of users to privacy and encryption. The bill empowers every state…

Not only urge them to oppose it, but make it clear that it's a dealbreaker. I will vote you out if you support this bill. End of story.

This threat is utterly empty in most states.

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

#300

Post by tagoregrtst »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #266
tagoregrtst wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get off your high horse. This is a long term international effort where irrelevant Western countries in the peripheries (that’s the EU) have nibbled away at encryption protections to make it easier for the US to do the same. It’s part of a two decades long effort by Western elites to correct their mistakes from the nineties - namely loosening the noose on information and privacy. Australia, France, UK all have dracon…

> The US is really flawed, but I wouldn't move back to the EU for double my family’s income. Which of the 27(8) countries did you live in, as they are rather different?

I speak three European languages at native level (Im ESL. Or is it ETL?) and can get along well enough in a fourth. I have the luxury of choice.

And my problem isn't with Europeans, that is Englishmen, Ukrainians, Russians, or normal people in the EU. My problem is with Europes’ (note the plural, this isn't merely about the EU) institutions, the way they think, the mentality of what a person can do.

At no point in the past two years was I prohibited under the yoke of arrest of going outside. My kids never stopped going to school except for the first two months. My kids don’t have to do security theater or wear masks. No law can, or does, limit my speech. If I had the misfortune of living in a bad neighborhood the law protects my right to defend myself against an intruder.

On the whole, pick any EU country and they all failed on those accounts. Maybe Czechia or Hungary are cool on some of the above.

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