Encryption Backdoors For Cops Put Internet Security At Risk

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What? No more internet backdoors for law enforcement? I guess we should shut down the FBI because they can't do their job. I don't want to sound like a dick but how did the FBI catch crooks before the internet? :rolleyes:

Law enforcement chiefs have been warning that the trend towards using strong encryption is making it much harder for them to disrupt criminal plots or investigate crimes because they cannot eavesdrop on online conversations anymore. Only this week the director of the FBI James Comey warned: "There is simply no doubt that bad people can communicate with impunity in a world of universal strong encryption."
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Before the internet, the crook didn't have access to it either and would have to either meet in persons where they could be followed or communicate either by snail mail or telephone, both of which are also easier to track.

Today, criminals and terrorist can plan their whole operation and coordinate it without even being on the same continent and in ways that are more time and ressources consuming than ever.
 
When it comes to encryption, the government thinks that they can put a big bank vault door in that only they can access.

In reality, it's a crappy aluminum screen door that anyone with the slightest bit of appropriate knowledge can cut right through and gain access from.

If you compromise encryption for any specific entity, you've compromised it to EVERYONE.
 
I think watering down areas that are problematic for cops doing a good job is the wrong way of doing things. You train them to deal with small things like this as practice so they can mirror what the criminal is doing. It is like free education on the job for them. I guess they don't want to better themselves.
 
Any kind of security backdoor implemented for law enforcement authorities will be discovered and maliciously exploited.
 
Yes, strong encryption will make it more difficult for law enforcement to do it's job. But so does the Miranda ruling. And the presumption of innocence. And a whole host of other protections written into the US Constitution and laws. That is one of the prices of freedom. Yes, freedom is not free.
 
but how did the FBI catch crooks before the internet?
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With good ol' fashion sleuthing. There's a reason they're hiring people with hacking backgrounds though.
 
Tuxon86 said:
Today, criminals and terrorist can plan their whole operation and coordinate it without even being on the same continent and in ways that are more time and ressources consuming than ever.
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True, but nothing is stopping the FBI from getting a warrant to get all the access to the crooks intertube dealings. That's how they used to do everything, go to a judge, get a warrant, gather everything they need. Now they want backdoors with unfettered access.
 
Private communication should have the expectation of being PRIVATE until such time as you can get a court order to search and seize those communications with PROBABLE CAUSE.

There are any number of hundreds of other non-encrypted things people do in life every day that can build that case.

Show cause. Get a warrant. THEN go after the private communications IF YOU CAN.

Better to die from an excess of freedom than an excess of tyranny any day.
 
but how do they know they are failing at disrupting a criminal plot if they can't decrypt anything to know it is being used for the criminal plot?
 
I think Steve is happy he was able to use the words "dick" and "backdoor" all in one news post.
 
I don't want to be a dick but, there were no internet crimes before the internet :D
 
lcpiper said:
I don't want to be a dick but, there were no internet crimes before the internet :D
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There were no crimes in my bathroom, either, but I still lock the door when I take a shit. Should we give keys to all law enforcement (other than battering rams)? Some things are private. My communication is one of them. I do not do anything illegal. When my wife and I email back and forth, that is private. If I want to lock them out of it, I can. Should we open all the doors in the US for free reign by law enforcement. Guaranteed crime would be at it's lowest point ever. Every home would be searched for illegal items or activities. No. We expect privacy offline and online. There will be a big fight over encryption, and if someone gives in then another 2 will pop up (Hail HYDRA!). People like their privacy. Even if they have nothing to hide.
 
so far I've seen more cops and people pretending to be cops get access to personal data by simply calling up a CS rep and asking for access they should not have. Law enforcement should have to go back to the days of warrants to search a person's home if they want access to their internet traffic. Then judges would decide if they have grounds for it. this way it will only be used when necessary not when some fat cop decided it is too far to walk or someone pretending to be cop gets access to legal docs and sells them for a fortune and no one knows who to blame for the loss.
 
rivertown_rat said:
Yes, strong encryption will make it more difficult for law enforcement to do it's job. But so does the Miranda ruling. And the presumption of innocence. And a whole host of other protections written into the US Constitution and laws. That is one of the prices of freedom. Yes, freedom is not free.
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Exactly this. The reason for "innocent until proven guilty", is that it's more important to preserve innocence than it is to punish guilt.
 
Gotta love Edward Snowden. I do think even without him, we would be moving towards this.
 
Saudi Arabia and Russians warned about the Boston bombers numerous times. Add to that an entire decade of hearing warnings about white Chechens (of which there are only a few hundrend). I don't buy that the feds are really after terrrosits. Right now its like ISIS doesn't exist and the feds want to fight the Civil War over while promotong cross-dressing in militay etc. DHS should just be disbanded. CIA is tits on a bull too.
 
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