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U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

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Re: U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

#41

Post by throwaway290 »

jeroenhd wrote: post #12
Shank wrote: post #5

I think this is an unquestionable overreach on the UK's part. If you live in any country that isn't the UK, you should feel the threat from this: the UK government believes that it is entitled to a backdoor on your hardware, even if you've never stepped a foot on UK soil or intend to. Mass surveillance is a threat to everyone, but this is not an instance of that, which has guards against it, like encryption. This is…

A similar law passed in Australia a few years ago; various Australian law enforcement agencies can request or even demand companies to make changes to their code (read: introduce backdoors). Until people and companies start treating Australian-made software as dangerous to the extent that it affects the economy, other countries will probably follow with similar laws. That should include being hesitant to use American…

With a warrant a company can be forced to implement this capability for a specific case. Is it the same?

Re: U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

#43

Post by flir »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #17
pc86 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's reasonable here to differentiate between acceptable and legal. It's completely unacceptable, but the British people have proven time and time again they're more than happy to make horrifically unacceptable things completely legal in the pursuit of "safety."

As with the US, I would not equate "British lawmakers passed" with "British people are happy to". British people are not given direct referendum on this issue specifically, and all of the mainstream British parties currently support the Snooper's Charter.

Mate, the "take all steps necessary to root out paedophiles" referendum would be won with 95% of the vote. It's all in the framing, you know that.

Re: U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

#44

Post by k3nx »

Folks should stop playing with words, and call it what it is. I feel like this should be called an act of war. It is espionage. UK against is people, UK against the world. And yes, the same goes for the US, China, Russia, and anyone else that does it. It doesn't mean if you're country does it it's right. It's wrong everywhere, some are just OK with it, but it still doesn't make it right.

Re: U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

#45

Post by nickslaughter02 »

graeme wrote: post #31
varsketiz wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a dramatic overreach of authority. Well, the rest of the world lives with the USA constantly doing this. Hopefully you dont support that as well.

The US does not require Apple to make a backdoor to its encryption.

How do you know that? Similarly to the UK, USA has a process to force companies to add back doors. For all we know it might the USA wanting access and using its five eyes allies to get it done.

Re: U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

#47

Post by flir »

gambiting wrote: post #11

Not to be cynical, but if anyone has looked at anything revealed about security agencies in the last few years it's very clear what's happening here - whenever US wants to do something unpopular/straight up illegal, it just asks the UK(or any other partner country) to do it instead. American government can't ask Apple for data on any American citizen, but if UK obtains that data and then it happens to be shared betwe…

I wouldn't go full-on conspiracy, because I expect the impetus came from the UK, but... I doubt it would have gotten this far without tacit US gov support.

Re: U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

#48

Post by hluska »

k3nx wrote: post #44

Folks should stop playing with words, and call it what it is. I feel like this should be called an act of war. It is espionage. UK against is people, UK against the world. And yes, the same goes for the US, China, Russia, and anyone else that does it. It doesn't mean if you're country does it it's right. It's wrong everywhere, some are just OK with it, but it still doesn't make it right.

This is not an act of war, mate. War is a whole world nastier than breaking crypto.

Re: U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

#49

Post by madeofpalk »

gman83 wrote: post #40

Why is it ok that the American government have a backdoor & have access to all non-American's personal data, but when the UK/EU wants something similar, suddenly it's a massive outrage. Is it just "we're stronger than you", so it's ok when we do it?

Was Snowden not a massive outrage?

Re: U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

#50

Post by kitd »

Shank wrote: post #5

I think this is an unquestionable overreach on the UK's part. If you live in any country that isn't the UK, you should feel the threat from this: the UK government believes that it is entitled to a backdoor on your hardware, even if you've never stepped a foot on UK soil or intend to. Mass surveillance is a threat to everyone, but this is not an instance of that, which has guards against it, like encryption. This is…

Here's the BBC report on the matter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20g288yldko

It applies to content stored using ADP, Apple's E2EE tech. A backdoor into that would mean applying a backdoor into iOS on the phone itself, which is a much larger attack surface than anything centralised.

All of which highlights the clownish nature of these regulations. They are so easy for bad actors to circumvent (eg using their own E2EE), resulting in the ridiculous situation where the innocent get their data stolen and the very people you're targeting being completely unaffected.

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