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Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says

arstechnica.com

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Re: Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says

#11

Post by iamnotacrook »

OrderlyTiamat wrote: post #9

Does mr Barr not understand that criminals will simply use free non-backdoored software instead? Of course he does. It's hard not to read this as another attemt to listen in on the conversation of regular citizens instead.

You could say that about criminalizing TOR. If you knew that by using TOR you were going to get swatted at 3am you'd probably stop using it. Same goes for encryption. The second any law is passed google/apple are going to pull apps; whatsapp etc are going to remove e2e (or alter it so the UI is the same but it can be snooped on) and criminals are going to have to figure out how to use PGP or whatever.

Re: Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says

#12

Post by PopeDotNinja »

sokoloff wrote: post #8

> The FBI ended up in possession of the shooter's iPhone during the investigation but was unable to unlock the device, as the attacker had been killed and therefore could not be compelled to share his PIN. Is it not the case that he couldn't be legally compelled to share his PIN even if he were alive?

No one can force your to share information. Let's say your PIN code is 1324, and you suffer from stress induced transposia (just made that up). Every time you are asked to say or share your PIN code, you get stresses & use 1234, even though you meant to use 1324. There's no way make you say the correct PIN code. In a more realistic example, what are you going to do to someone who simply forgot their PIN code?

Re: Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says

#14

Post by heisenbit »

Mr. Barr is working for a President who's son in law was discussing to establish an encrypted and covert back-channel through the Russian embassy. He himself is accused of suppression and obfuscation of critical information that should have gone to Congress ages ago. He has less than zero standing in this area.

Re: Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says

#15

Post by vectorEQ »

sokoloff wrote: post #8

> The FBI ended up in possession of the shooter's iPhone during the investigation but was unable to unlock the device, as the attacker had been killed and therefore could not be compelled to share his PIN. Is it not the case that he couldn't be legally compelled to share his PIN even if he were alive?

investigators used to look further when they hit a dead end. now it seems they just whine to congress.

Re: Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says

#16

Post by IceyEC »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #12
sokoloff wrote: post #8

> The FBI ended up in possession of the shooter's iPhone during the investigation but was unable to unlock the device, as the attacker had been killed and therefore could not be compelled to share his PIN. Is it not the case that he couldn't be legally compelled to share his PIN even if he were alive?

No one can force your to share information. Let's say your PIN code is 1324, and you suffer from stress induced transposia (just made that up). Every time you are asked to say or share your PIN code, you get stresses & use 1234, even though you meant to use 1324. There's no way make you say the correct PIN code. In a more realistic example, what are you going to do to someone who simply forgot their PIN code?

Or, more interestingly in the US, you'll say "I please the fifth," and "I want to speak to my lawyer" and it won't be an issue.

Re: Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says

#17

Post by teunispeters »

Topgamer7 wrote: post #6

I challenge him to describe what an encryption backdoor actually is. Its like putting a hidden switch behind a brick in a wall. The brick looks the same, but if you take the time to knock on every brick, you'll eventually find the button. Every moderately powerful nations will have someone out there knocking on the bricks.

Ditto larger and more organized criminal organizations.

Re: Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says

#19

Post by cmurf »

Clearly the antitrust investigation is really about strong arming big tech into putting in backdoors. Republican administrations for decades have been weak on competition law, they have little problem with mergers and conglomeration, and have no concerns for consumer protection, or a belief in a broad privacy right. And that's because they believe those things are adequately addressed by consumers making informed choices, because consumers have all available information.

I'd bet all the tea in China that they drop the antitrust investigation in exchange for backdoors.

If these companies continue to base their businesses in large part on services, they will need a trusted cryptographic method for protecting customer information. If these companies regress into being strictly product and advertising businesses, what is the loss of value? And what kinds of businesses fill the void? And will those businesses even be based in the U.S. if the legal regime mandates backdoors for all businesses? Besides, on what basis does DOJ require only big tech provide a backdoor?

Re: Tech firms “can and must” put backdoors in encryption, AG Barr says

#20

Post by yibg »

OrderlyTiamat wrote: post #9

Does mr Barr not understand that criminals will simply use free non-backdoored software instead? Of course he does. It's hard not to read this as another attemt to listen in on the conversation of regular citizens instead.

Seems like a failure of the tech community that most people don’t understand the ramifications of backdoors. People can also point to the example of China where there are indeed government backdoors and things are fine (from the government can get access but others can’t point of view). Clearly we don’t want to be like China in this regard but it does give an example of a “working” backdoor setup.
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