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John McCain wants to outlaw encryption that the US government can't crack

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Re: John McCain wants to outlaw encryption that the US government can't crack

#51

Post by samstave »

serge2k wrote: post #24
gnoway wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Republicans" Rand Paul is pretty openly pro-encryption. Hillary Clinton is equivocating; I think she's probably anti-encryption. These may be exceptions that prove the rule but I think what we're really seeing is a combination of ignorance, pandering and authoritarianism across the spectrum.

>Hillary Clinton is equivocating; I think she's probably anti-encryption Damn, we need her on our side as a proven expert in computer security and privacy.

Her version of encryption is, after she wipes the server with a cloth, she ties the server up in a knotted sheet using Truckers Hitch.

However - I found this video of someone hacking Hillary's server encryption

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUHgGK-tImY

Re: John McCain wants to outlaw encryption that the US government can't crack

#52

Post by cortesoft »

serge2k wrote: post #25
cs702 wrote: post #17

Evidently he doesn't realize that this is like asking for addition or subtraction to be outlawed, which is nonsensical. Like adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing, encrypting is a mathematical operation that transforms numbers into other numbers.

How is that relevant? I disagree with him too, but this is a lousy argument.

It is certainly relevant, because his point is that encryption is just math, and you can't outlaw math. Or, even if you did outlaw math, it won't have any effect because you can't enforce it.

Re: John McCain wants to outlaw encryption that the US government can't crack

#55

Post by andrewchambers »

Whoever tries to pass that law is going to realize the mistake they made when it comes time to enforce it and they have to delete code from nearly every computer in the country.

Other countries like Russia will be able to laughably crack US citizens bank accounts, email accounts etc if this was actually done.

It will be a massive public relations nightmare for anyone who actually tries to make this reality.

Re: John McCain wants to outlaw encryption that the US government can't crack

#56

Post by such_a_casual »

So basically he wants to ensure that black hatters will be able to crack all encryption in the United States? If the U.S. Government can crack something, than that means there is a human element that will always be exploitable. If a group of people can crack an encryption, than that group of people is the weakness. Someone will be social engineered, hacked, or compromised successfully eventually. They might even just make a stupid mistake. This basically ensures that whatever the United States is using to crack encryptions will leak eventually causing legal encryption to be completely insecure until the government releases its next update, until that leaks as well, and we end up with a cycle of fuckery on our hands. Yeah, let's not do that.

> Obama administration says it has no plans to legislate against strong encryption, and the UK government says it doesn't either.

So It doesn't look like we have to worry. The argument for legislation is idiotic. Terrorists won't care if it's legal or not to use strong encryption. You would only be forcing law abiding citizens to use weak encryption.

Re: John McCain wants to outlaw encryption that the US government can't crack

#57

Post by 0x0 »

dogma1138 wrote: post #47
andrewchambers wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would say that getting a Gun in the US or even in Europe (especially since the eastern European and Balkan states have joined (officially or unofficially Schengen) is by far easier than setting up your own secure crypto from scratch. No, it is far easier to download an openbsd cd image from canada than it is to physically carry a gun.

OpenBSD cd image would give you absolutely nothing when it comes to defending against state level actors sorry. And you are assuming that in their proposed reality that would be as easily achievable as it is today, you'll be surprised how effective can a crackdown be once a government sets its mind to it.

So nothing in the current OpenBSD images would be banned then?

Re: John McCain wants to outlaw encryption that the US government can't crack

#58

Post by samstave »

vonklaus wrote: post #23

This is Edward Snowden's fault. Let's look at the facts: * Edward Snowden declared war against terrorists. * Edward Snowden started indescriminently bombing villages in the middle east. * Edward Snowden created massive ill will against America, then left a huge power vacuum in the region by pulling out after, dare I say it, conducting terrorism against the native inhabitants. So, Ed, wherever you are, this is your fa…

Edward Snowden then had the audacity to leak our ways and means to the same terrorists and put the lives and safety of our men in the field at risk!

Edward Snowden then had the balls to tell the American people that the NSA was sharing their nude selfies amongst NSA employees and put the lives and safety of our men in the field at risk!

Re: John McCain wants to outlaw encryption that the US government can't crack

#59

Post by andrewchambers »

dogma1138 wrote: post #47
andrewchambers wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would say that getting a Gun in the US or even in Europe (especially since the eastern European and Balkan states have joined (officially or unofficially Schengen) is by far easier than setting up your own secure crypto from scratch. No, it is far easier to download an openbsd cd image from canada than it is to physically carry a gun.

OpenBSD cd image would give you absolutely nothing when it comes to defending against state level actors sorry. And you are assuming that in their proposed reality that would be as easily achievable as it is today, you'll be surprised how effective can a crackdown be once a government sets its mind to it.

You are living in a delusion, they can't crack the standard encryption that comes with openssh, and that is the type of thing they want to ban.

People can easily hide data streams inside video-streams/ text-files/images to circumvent trivial screening. The government won't be able to do anything effective without massive costs and draconian measures. Not to mention people outside the US can carry on however they like anyway.

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