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UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

arstechnica.com

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Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#351

Post by GoblinSlayer »

deepsun wrote: post #292
mzajc wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This must be some "technically correct" weasel words bullcrap Is that even necessary? A gag order means they can't reveal backdoors, and their entire stack is so locked down that discovering them is hard and unlikely.

Gag order cannot force them to lie. A lie like that can be illegal even. If there's a gag order, then companies say "we have a gag order". Like Google and Twitter did back in the day when asked. And then immediately started releasing Transparency Report to show how many of the gag orders they receive, so gov't couldn't say "we don't request anything". https://transparencyreport.google.com/user-data/overview

Maybe it's a different type of a gag order? Subpoena prohibits to say "we have a gag order".

Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#352

Post by GoblinSlayer »

phendrenad2 wrote: post #338
jjani wrote: post #102

> Apple did not respond to a request for comment. “We have never built a back door or master key to any of our products, and we never will,” Apple said in February. This must be some "technically correct" weasel words bullcrap, as without at least equivalent access there is no chance Apple would be operating in China.

Most likely the spokesperson just forgot about China. They're still a US country, after all, and US-centric thinking is the default.

This. Just have a demented spokesperson.

Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#353

Post by arethuza »

amatecha wrote: post #350
slavik81 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author of V for Vendetta, Watchmen, 300, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?

Okay, just to answer the damned question because apparently no one else felt like doing the decent thing and just saying it: the "Moore" mentioned is Alan Moore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Moore

I did initially wonder if the reference was to Thomas Moore!

Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#354

Post by Hilift »

ok123456 wrote: post #115
jjani wrote: post #102

> Apple did not respond to a request for comment. “We have never built a back door or master key to any of our products, and we never will,” Apple said in February. This must be some "technically correct" weasel words bullcrap, as without at least equivalent access there is no chance Apple would be operating in China.

"We have never built." ok, so then who built it?

Go further: "We have never built a back door or master key"

The feature is not named "back door" or "master key". It's a feature of iMessage with various names such as "zero click".

Also note they have created features before that provides law enforcement access to data at different stages of a pipeline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMessage#Security_and_privacy

Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#355

Post by alt227 »

deepsun wrote: post #292
mzajc wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This must be some "technically correct" weasel words bullcrap Is that even necessary? A gag order means they can't reveal backdoors, and their entire stack is so locked down that discovering them is hard and unlikely.

Gag order cannot force them to lie. A lie like that can be illegal even. If there's a gag order, then companies say "we have a gag order". Like Google and Twitter did back in the day when asked. And then immediately started releasing Transparency Report to show how many of the gag orders they receive, so gov't couldn't say "we don't request anything". https://transparencyreport.google.com/user-data/overview

> Gag order cannot force them to lie.

Yes it can, thats the whole point.

Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#356

Post by alt227 »

gdwatson wrote: post #345
dvtkrlbs wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean they just disabled advanced data protection which allowed normal law enforcement requests to access the data since they are not e2e encrypted if you don't use advanced data protection. I really don't think they needed to implement a new backdoor. They would just need implement a procedure that would fast track UK requests.

That didn’t placate the UK government, because it didn’t just want access to British users’ data – it wanted access to any Apple user’s data from anywhere in the world. I suspect that disabling advanced data protection in the UK was meant to let Apple say it was complying as far as it could while fighting the main order.

You still dont know who was lobbying the UK government to ask for this.

Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#357

Post by alt227 »

thewebguyd wrote: post #111
dsign wrote: post #23

Things got so out of control because the UK doesn't have heavily muscled tech emporiums that can spend time in bed with their politicians. US does. But it's a sad world the one where citizens are so helpless against their governments and the corporations.

> But it's a sad world the one where citizens are so helpless against their governments and the corporations. Helpless indeed - but, government still requires the consent of the governed. It's just that we are all very comfortable, with a lot to lose and easily distracted, so that consent to be governed is too easily given nowadays. If we do anything together as a society it should be making sure to preserve E2E Encr…

I am always surprised by just how much of the population is still swayed by the 'think of the children' arguments put forward by governements to justify certain curbing of freedoms.

Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#358

Post by FirmwareBurner »

giantg2 wrote: post #277
FirmwareBurner wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making terrorist threats are different than insulting some's religion, complaining about illegal immigrant crimes or shitting on politicians online. It's disingenuous to argue they're in the same ballpark that EU and US speech is similarly policed because it's not.

Not terrorist threats - terroristic threats. This includes anything that someone might think is threatening. Do you have examples of non-threatening language resulting in arrest in the UK?

>Not terrorist threats - terroristic threats. This includes anything that someone might think is threatening

WAHAT?! Are we making up new terms for "someone offended me online and since I feel threatened I call it terroristic"?

Actual threats are already legally defined and punished. So is terrorism.

So it's either terrorism or it's not, and it's either a threat or it's not.

Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#359

Post by netdevphoenix »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #340
weavejester wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> UK citizens don't have a constitutional right to free speech They do. The UK has an uncodified constitution, and this includes the Human Rights Act, which guarantees freedom of expression to UK citizens.

In practice there isn't freedom of speech. The UK government violates that all the time. Their agencies operate in secrecy and they have raided newspapers offices and destroyed data, arrested journalists and taken people's private information at borders.

Doesn't this apply to literally every government on earth?

Re: UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

#360

Post by derelicta »

ethbr1 wrote: post #300
caycep wrote: post #168

I don't get why the UK always does this. it's like GSM encryption all over again. Is it a particularly snoop-ey culture stemming from GCHQ or something?

UK citizens don't have a constitutional right to free speech, which tends to bleed over in unhealthy ways to the government prioritizing its own interests over citizens'.

None of the west has a right to free speech. Even in the US, protesting against a genocide means you risk ending up in an internment camp.
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