Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

UK pulls back from clash with Big Tech over private messaging

ft.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 320 posts

Re: UK pulls back from clash with Big Tech over private messaging

#11

Post by paxys »

phoe-krk wrote: post #3

> The UK government has conceded it will not use controversial powers in the online safety bill to scan messaging apps for harmful content until it is “technically feasible” to do so (...) That would be waiting for a quantum computer and quietly hoping that a) nobody develops a strong enough post-quantum scheme and b) there is still civilization after RSA and ECC are broken? Correct me if I'm wrong.

"Strong enough post-quantum schemes" already exist, and every single mainstream communications platform will update to become quantum-proof overnight if/when quantum computers approach that level of capability. Quantum computers cracking encryption is really not a concern on anyone's mind, at least no more than, say, modern processors cracking SHA-1 etc.

Re: UK pulls back from clash with Big Tech over private messaging

#12

Post by phoe-krk »

monero-xmr wrote: post #6
phoe-krk wrote: post #3

> The UK government has conceded it will not use controversial powers in the online safety bill to scan messaging apps for harmful content until it is “technically feasible” to do so (...) That would be waiting for a quantum computer and quietly hoping that a) nobody develops a strong enough post-quantum scheme and b) there is still civilization after RSA and ECC are broken? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Quantum computing doesn’t matter. Nothing in the universe can break a one time pad.

And nothing in the post-quantum universe seems to reliably solve the problem of transmitting a one-time pad.

Re: UK pulls back from clash with Big Tech over private messaging

#14

Post by maxbond »

monero-xmr wrote: post #6
phoe-krk wrote: post #3

> The UK government has conceded it will not use controversial powers in the online safety bill to scan messaging apps for harmful content until it is “technically feasible” to do so (...) That would be waiting for a quantum computer and quietly hoping that a) nobody develops a strong enough post-quantum scheme and b) there is still civilization after RSA and ECC are broken? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Quantum computing doesn’t matter. Nothing in the universe can break a one time pad.

Is quantum computing relevant to symmetric encryption like OTP? GP was talking about asymmetric encryption. My limited understanding is that quantum computing is a threat to asymmetric encryption.

There's also the question of, if you can distribute a key which is at least the same size as your message over a secure channel - why not just distribute your message over that channel in the first place?

Re: UK pulls back from clash with Big Tech over private messaging

#17

Post by karmanyaahm »

maxbond wrote: post #14
monero-xmr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quantum computing doesn’t matter. Nothing in the universe can break a one time pad.

Is quantum computing relevant to symmetric encryption like OTP? GP was talking about asymmetric encryption. My limited understanding is that quantum computing is a threat to asymmetric encryption. There's also the question of, if you can distribute a key which is at least the same size as your message over a secure channel - why not just distribute your message over that channel in the first place?

> why not just distribute your message over that channel in the first place

Latency? You can hand deliver a password ahead of time, but not messages.

Re: UK pulls back from clash with Big Tech over private messaging

#18

Post by numpad0 »

monero-xmr wrote: post #6
phoe-krk wrote: post #3

> The UK government has conceded it will not use controversial powers in the online safety bill to scan messaging apps for harmful content until it is “technically feasible” to do so (...) That would be waiting for a quantum computer and quietly hoping that a) nobody develops a strong enough post-quantum scheme and b) there is still civilization after RSA and ECC are broken? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Quantum computing doesn’t matter. Nothing in the universe can break a one time pad.

But quantum computing can put the ciphertext in a quantum superposition between solved and unsolved state. Only problem to remain will be simple matter of determining what the plaintext is to be.

Re: UK pulls back from clash with Big Tech over private messaging

#19

Post by toyg »

phoe-krk wrote: post #3

> The UK government has conceded it will not use controversial powers in the online safety bill to scan messaging apps for harmful content until it is “technically feasible” to do so (...) That would be waiting for a quantum computer and quietly hoping that a) nobody develops a strong enough post-quantum scheme and b) there is still civilization after RSA and ECC are broken? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Oh no. That "technically feasible" translates to "when the government will be able to pass the practical parts of this legislation without too many people asking too many questions".

Re: UK pulls back from clash with Big Tech over private messaging

#20

Post by [deleted] »

phoe-krk wrote: post #3

> The UK government has conceded it will not use controversial powers in the online safety bill to scan messaging apps for harmful content until it is “technically feasible” to do so (...) That would be waiting for a quantum computer and quietly hoping that a) nobody develops a strong enough post-quantum scheme and b) there is still civilization after RSA and ECC are broken? Correct me if I'm wrong.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN