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

washingtonpost.com

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

#61

Post by mjburgess »

flir wrote: post #47
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.

Not only would I not be surprised if this was a US demand on the UK, but I'd think it highly likely that the law which the UK passed to allow this was also a demand from the US.

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

#62

Post by sejje »

swores wrote: post #53
kitd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm entirely against what the UK government wants, however I would say: Although you're right that tech people would still be able to choose secure encrypted options, the fact is that the majority of criminals by pure numbers are not very sophisticated - so while this sort of backdoor obviously wouldn't be a guarantee that every criminal conversation could be snooped on, it would work on the 90-99% (I'd guess towards…

For three whole minutes until everyone knows it's totally compromised and stops doing that

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

#63

Post by sieabahlpark »

nickslaughter02 wrote: post #45
graeme wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Point to the law that requires them to do it and keep quiet about it. The US law.

I'll wait.

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

#65

Post by arlort »

jtbayly wrote: post #51
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…

Kind of like the EU overreach on privacy. Whether it’s for a good cause or a bad one, these sorts of overreach are to be opposed.

It'd be kinda like GDPR if the EU has demanded that non EU companies apply GDPR to non EU citizens

As described by the parent post it's nothing like EU "overreach" on privacy (whatever that even means)

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

#66

Post by eapressoandcats »

swores wrote: post #53
kitd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm entirely against what the UK government wants, however I would say: Although you're right that tech people would still be able to choose secure encrypted options, the fact is that the majority of criminals by pure numbers are not very sophisticated - so while this sort of backdoor obviously wouldn't be a guarantee that every criminal conversation could be snooped on, it would work on the 90-99% (I'd guess towards…

Realistically most criminals probably don’t even turn on ADP, so it will probably move the needle not at all.

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

#67

Post by swores »

sejje wrote: post #62
swores wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm entirely against what the UK government wants, however I would say: Although you're right that tech people would still be able to choose secure encrypted options, the fact is that the majority of criminals by pure numbers are not very sophisticated - so while this sort of backdoor obviously wouldn't be a guarantee that every criminal conversation could be snooped on, it would work on the 90-99% (I'd guess towards…

For three whole minutes until everyone knows it's totally compromised and stops doing that

SMS is already known to be insecure and easily snooped on with a warrant, and has been used by police around the world in many cases, yet a surprisingly high number of criminals still use it.

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

#68

Post by sieabahlpark »

flir wrote: post #47
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.

[dead]

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

#69

Post by crazygringo »

nessbot wrote: post #60

How does this political story stay up but not the ones about DOGE? What gives?

There was a huge story with 1600 points three days ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42981756

We don't need new stories daily.

And stories about encryption back doors are as much technological as political.

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

#70

Post by nessbot »

crazygringo wrote: post #69
nessbot wrote: post #60

How does this political story stay up but not the ones about DOGE? What gives?

There was a huge story with 1600 points three days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42981756 We don't need new stories daily. And stories about encryption back doors are as much technological as political.

The story[0] I'm referring to is about the Technology Transformation Services, which I think is also apt. Also, I would argue that the actions of government are more political than technological or, actually, that making such a distinction is naive.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43037426

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