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France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

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Re: France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

#191

Post by SamDc73 »

londons_explore wrote: post #96

If the small guys are getting threats like this, one can only assume the big guys already have suitable backdoors...

I don't think so; (but at the end of the day, you can never be 100% sure unless it's 100% OSS)

But with that being said both Apple and Google store a lot of data about you, and they are willing to "cooperate" with the government, and they did hand over data in various of cases Apple included [1]. For some reason, people think of as the "privacy company".

btw, big tech also get harassed for similar requests: The UK, for example, is still pressuring Apple to build an encryption backdoor [2].

[1] https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/ [2] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/uk-still-trying-backdo...

Re: France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

#192

Post by JumpCrisscross »

konmok wrote: post #71

I think your devices should have government-mandated backdoors if and only if you are a public servant. I don't understand why private citizens are held to higher standards of conduct than politicians and cops.

> devices should have government-mandated backdoors if and only if you are a public servant

This would be an intelligence bonanza.

Better: mandatory, encrypted logging. Officials maintain the keys. When they leave office or are subpoenaed, they have the means to grant access. (If they can send and read their messages, they have the keys.)

This is how NARA in the U.S. is supposed to work.

Re: France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

#193

Post by p0w3n3d »

jmyeet wrote: post #128
londons_explore wrote: post #96

If the small guys are getting threats like this, one can only assume the big guys already have suitable backdoors...

I can understand you thinking that and there's probably some truth to it but do I consider Android and iOS compromised with government backdoors? No. What do I base this on? The lucrative black market for Android/iOS 0days. And who's buying them? Generally, state actors, directly or indirectly. There is an entire ecosystem of Israeli "security" companies that exist to farm out these exploits. This is a big part of wh…

I see your point, but this could also mean that the backdoors are there, just only a few organisations know it (let's say US army) and then they get found and found again

Re: France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

#194

Post by chaboud »

School-Cotton wrote: post #133
jcsager wrote: post #72

I think EncroChat scared them pas-de-merde, and this may be an overreaction by untutored civil servants.

> scared them pas-de-merde Huh?

"without shit" translated...

"Scared them shitless" in faux franglais.

Probably something like this would be close to the same colloquial meaning (I'm not familiar with any pants-shitting slang in French): EncroChat leur a foutu les jetons de ouf.

(closer to "scared the hell out of them")

Re: France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

#195

Post by lisbbb »

pelotron wrote: post #85
marcinzm wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There were many decades where phones didn't have back doors. Your cell phone provider almost certainly will respond to a valid warrant and wire tap your non e2e encrypted phone call. I'd be very surprised if the most common mode of remote communication in any time period was not subject to government interception in some format within a short time of becoming such. That includes physical mail, telegrams, landlines,…

I don't think people are arguing against complying with valid warrants. They object to blanket surveillance being done with tools available to any law officer that can be used at any time, warrant or not.

Private companies are being used to hoover up massive amounts of data and circumvent legal protections such as warrants.

Re: France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

#196

Post by foldr »

ggkbgtygvuu wrote: post #152
foldr wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really? You can buy knives in London, and any laws regulating knife purchases are UK-wide, nothing to do with London specifically.

I think the post you’re replying to is alluding to the fact that London has a knife problem, despite carrying knives being illegal there. Meanwhile a number of places don’t have that problem, even though it’s legal there. BTW As an outsider, this “knife” euphemism caught me off guard a while ago. When you read about these stories from London, it’s usually about machetes. It’s one of a number of euphemisms Brits use a…

It’s not in general illegal to carry knives in London (or again, in the rest of the country, which has the same laws). Small knives are permitted generally and larger knives may be carried for specific reasons (e.g. religious). To say that it’s illegal to carry a knife in the UK is roughly as misleading as saying that it’s illegal to carry guns in Texas. In both cases there are applicable laws, but there is no blanket ban.

London has a knife crime problem in the important sense that any number of people being stabbed is a problem. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that cities like NYC have a slightly higher rate of fatal stabbings per capita. (Non-fatal robberies and assaults are tricky to compare across countries because of different data collection methodologies and different classifications.) Of course it would be good for fewer people to get stabbed, and knife crime is a serious problem for some specific communities, but the city as a whole is not experiencing the kind of knife crime epidemic that you might imagine if you get your news from alt right TikTok accounts.

Re: France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

#198

Post by gruez »

hirako2000 wrote: post #39
teaearlgraycold wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has never happened on my iPhone

Apple charges a storage tax so why not ship all that data by default

Every other OEM charges a "storage tax" too?

Re: France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

#199

Post by udev4096 »

blueflow wrote: post #165
MYEUHD wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is in third post in the thread: https://mamot.fr/@LaQuadrature/115581775986937247 > Interviewed, she warns that she will “not stop pursuing publishers if links are discovered with a criminal organization and they [GrapheneOS] do not cooperate with justice.”

This is not proven state action - this is hearsay. Maybe the GrapheneOS project should wait for the first warrant to arrive or police raid to happen before claiming what they currently do. With the current evidence, its not ruled out that the french state is not doing anything at all.

Are you serious? A storm is heading towards you and you wanna just keep watching it until it hits you? Absolute bafoon

Re: France threatens GrapheneOS with arrests / server seizure for refusing backdoors

#200

Post by shepherdjerred »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #192
konmok wrote: post #71

I think your devices should have government-mandated backdoors if and only if you are a public servant. I don't understand why private citizens are held to higher standards of conduct than politicians and cops.

> devices should have government-mandated backdoors if and only if you are a public servant This would be an intelligence bonanza. Better: mandatory, encrypted logging. Officials maintain the keys. When they leave office or are subpoenaed, they have the means to grant access. (If they can send and read their messages, they have the keys.) This is how NARA in the U.S. is supposed to work.

> This would be an intelligence bonanza.

If you're wanting to do it with all citizens, why not start with public officials? It's no worse than your desired end state

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