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Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

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Re: Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

#21

Post by NotEvil »

charcircuit wrote: post #14
c1ccccc1 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if most people don't have the technical chops spy on traffic themselves, I can imagine a world where there are companies that provide such things as products / services. (Probably there are already a few companies like this, I haven't checked.) For example one might be able buy a gizmo with an antenna that listens in on people's wifi and mobile connections. If end to end encryption was banned, I'm guessing that…

Thankfully with the mass adoption of HTTPS most messages are going to be encrypted over the person's network you are using.

And with the law. We whould have a backdoor in tls. And HTTPS will be meaningless

Re: Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

#23

Post by skoskie »

2143 wrote: post #22

I'm not even a US/UK/EU citizen. Is there any way I can contribute? Or do I just sit and watch the world burn as policymakers elsewhere indirectly make policies that might inadvertently affect people far far away as well?

On behalf of one of those countries, I’m sorry.

Re: Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

#24

Post by JumpCrisscross »

vitiral wrote: post #20

I feel like they missed the primary point which is that E2E encryption is the primary thing protecting everyone from hackers/criminals/other-governments. Without it the criminals WILL have access to your systems and data and then you can basically say goodbye to anything being valuable at all. Locking your door at night is a poor metaphor. A criminal can literally infiltrate and search through every unsecured compute…

> Without it the criminals WILL have access to your systems and data

Replacing criminals and state overreach with foreign adversaries may be more salient.

Our encryption debate came of age after the Cold War. The boogeymen of that era have been surpassed. We have new ones, and they're more sinister than thieves and more tangible than a your government turning on you.

Re: Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

#25

Post by userbinator »

Devil's advocate: encryption is also what's stopping users with locked-down devices (increasingly common and hard to avoid) from having freedom to run and/or modify the software they use.

It's a tough situation. Encryption can be used for good or bad (and even the definition of what's "good" or "bad" encryption varies depending on who you ask). Unfortunately, I see it increasingly being used to oppress users, in the form of DRM and other "security" features.

Perhaps classifying encryption as munitions makes the most sense, if you support 2A rights.

On the other hand, it's just maths. Maths which anyone can theoretically do.

I don't know if there is a good solution to this problem.

Re: Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

#26

Post by c1ccccc1 »

charcircuit wrote: post #14
c1ccccc1 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if most people don't have the technical chops spy on traffic themselves, I can imagine a world where there are companies that provide such things as products / services. (Probably there are already a few companies like this, I haven't checked.) For example one might be able buy a gizmo with an antenna that listens in on people's wifi and mobile connections. If end to end encryption was banned, I'm guessing that…

Thankfully with the mass adoption of HTTPS most messages are going to be encrypted over the person's network you are using.

True, and definitely a good thing.

Re: Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

#27

Post by tjpnz »

c1ccccc1 wrote: post #11
charcircuit wrote: post #2

>Are you "hiding" when you lock the door of your home every day, just because the government is not permitted to enter it without a warrant If this is your reason then I would say you are trying to hide. >Is it "hiding" to seal the envelope of the card you're sending your Valentine? Yes, the point is to keep it a surprise. >helps protect queer youth from intolerant violence (at home and abroad, as in Ghana). E2EE doe…

Even if most people don't have the technical chops spy on traffic themselves, I can imagine a world where there are companies that provide such things as products / services. (Probably there are already a few companies like this, I haven't checked.) For example one might be able buy a gizmo with an antenna that listens in on people's wifi and mobile connections. If end to end encryption was banned, I'm guessing that…

>I'm guessing that spying on that non-encrypted traffic would take about $50 and an afternoon of setup, and would not require any special skills.

I could see it even becoming a feature in consumer grade network equipment. A bit like HDCP circumvention in video capture boxes or region free playback in optical media players. All you'll have to do is shop around.

Re: Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

#28

Post by 2143 »

skoskie wrote: post #23
2143 wrote: post #22

I'm not even a US/UK/EU citizen. Is there any way I can contribute? Or do I just sit and watch the world burn as policymakers elsewhere indirectly make policies that might inadvertently affect people far far away as well?

On behalf of one of those countries, I’m sorry.

Ah don't be it's not your fault.

Re: Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

#29

Post by pico303 »

I don’t understand why folks don’t just point out any back doors in these services will be abused or hacked eventually. Do our leaders want their own personal correspondence—-to their big donors, bankers, brokers, interns, mistresses, drug dealers, coup instigators—-available to the FBI or the media too?

Re: Earn-IT threatens encryption and therefore user freedom

#30

Post by galoisscobi »

Wrote to Dianne Feinstein of CA about being against Earn-IT act and got a letter back about how Earn IT act would prevent child sexual abuse material online. Sigh.

As disappointed as I was in the response, I'm glad that EFF makes it really easy to reach out to reps. Took me less than a minute to send out my stance against the Earn IT act to my representatives https://act.eff.org/action/stop-the-earn-it-act-to-save-our-....

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