David Cameron's "anti-encryption" bill

[Vexeer]

Last week, the British Prime Minister told Parliament that he wants to “ensure that terrorists do not have a safe space in which to communicate.”

Strong encryption refers to the act of scrambling data in such a way that it cannot be understood by anyone without the correct key or password — even law enforcement with a warrant, or the software manufacturer itself. It’s used in some of the most popular tech products in the world, including the iPhone, WhatsApp messenger, and Facebook.

 

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/bruce-schneier-david-cameron-proposed-encryption-ban-destroy-the-internet-2015-7

 

 

Alright so some of what has been said in this is a little worrying to hear although that can be credited to news articles based on politics obviously being a little more dramatic than they should be, however, I still believe that steps in this direction may not be that great. Currently trying to get access to encrypted information with a warrant may be reasonable to do, in some cases, although worryingly if something such as this can pass, then it could lead to a less secure environment for the internet in the UK.

 

Currently these "Strong" forms of encryption seem to mostly be targeted towards social media, although there are forms that can be used for other safety, such as encryption for purchases and such, I would honestly prefer if online businesses and retailers weren't more open to forms of attack due to having their more secure forms of encryption removed.

 

This personally seems like a few steps have been taken backwards in some regards, although how does the rest of you view this?

 

Is there merit to this, or is this just a crazy 'phase' that's happening and will be forgotten in a few weeks as per usual?

 

 

 

 

Please do not cause a massive political debate over parties and political groups, this is to be related to how it can affect us using technology and such!

 

 

Did I do this article right?

 

 

[Sidiox]

Cameron is really fucking stupid or really wants headlines....

If he thinks that the UK has the right to build in backdoors in all encryption, then every sovereign nation has that right. So China, the US, Iran any singly country. And then you kinda make encryption useless.

I hope that if he pushes through with this bullshit all companies just retreat from the UK (Google, FB, Amazon). 

[Joshndroid]

Anything that will enable someone to peep in on the encrypted traffic is leaving the door wide open for hackers to do the same. It's highly concerning for the UK that such a measure would be sought. I'm all for national security but the point at which the majority lose their anonymity for the minority is where i draw the line.

[Anult]

It's nice to see Mr. Cameron giving a huge contribution to the Irish economy with this bill.

 

I hope he continues these beautiful policies for the foreseeable future.

[AlwaysFSX]

:lol:

 

You guys manage to out-do *US*.

 

I'm dying over here reading this.

[ShadowCaptain]

The government are pretty stupid they are like "oh terrorists use secure encrypted communications, lets make them illegal".. its like yes because something being illegal ever stopped terrorists and criminals

 

I am pretty sure sombody prepared to steal, murder, rape and other such things are going to be turned off because their encrypted email is illegal

 

I bet you that Google, Amazon, Apple etc will all tell Cameron to fuck right off, I doubt they will allow a UK backdoor into all their security 

 

 

Encryption is for the safety and privacy of UK citizens!!! you may as well remove ambulances 

[WereCat]

The government are pretty stupid they are like "oh terrorists use secure encrypted communications, lets make them illegal".. its like yes because something being illegal ever stopped terrorists and criminals

 

I am pretty sure sombody prepared to steal, murder, rape and other such things are going to be turned off because their encrypted email is illegal

 

I bet you that Google, Amazon, Apple etc will all tell Cameron to fuck right off, I doubt they will allow a UK backdoor into all their security 

 

 

Encryption is for the safety and privacy of UK citizens!!! you may as well remove ambulances 

Yea.. goverments logic:

Terorists are driving cars! Lets make them illegal!

Terrorists are drinking coffee with sugar every morning! Lets make that illegal!

Terrorists are wiping their butt with toilet paper! Lets make it illegal!

 

They are actualy causing more harm than terrorists.

[ShadowCaptain]

They are actualy causing more harm than terrorists.

 

Absolutely, they are actually decreasing security/privacy for UK citizens

[SurvivorNVL]

:lol:

 

You guys manage to out-do *US*.

 

I'm dying over here reading this.

They not only out did America, but they're almost out-doing Australia!  Almost...

[Spannerhands]

Terrorism is bullshit, It'is always in the news, Our government makes massive policy & privacy changes, its all fearmongering...

Back in the real world over the last 10 years more people in the uk have died from

Bee stings or Toaster related accidents, than terrorist attacks...

We should kill all the bee's and ban toasters as they are more dangerous...

[TheUzu]

Hes just talking shit, old u-turn will just get told by someone who knows how the Internet actually works tells him that what he just said is insane.

What's he going to do block all sites that do t comply?

No chance

[WelshDdraig]

WARNING: RANT IN SPOILER

Why Cameron? Just Why? 

All major tech companies will just tell you to feck off, The consumer will tell you to feck off. 

Instead of talking bull crap, how about doing something productive and keeping the hunting ban... oh wait, your on such a high horse you want to kill innocent animals for fun....

(Lets be clear, pest control, fair enough Capture them humanly and release them into the countryside. Outright hunting for the fun of it...)

 

Sorry, Rant over.

Seriously though. If you put a back door in to encryption, the data is no longer encrypted. Any hacker with enough time will be able to exploit the same backdoor and will most likely do something MUCH worse than any terrorist could do. Why should everyone suffer because they offer a service that just so happens might be used in a way the creators did not intend?

Answer: They Shouldn't!

 

Edit: Fixed some spelling. 

[cesrai]

But what about the children.

[deviant88]

UK is the new 'merica.

If there would be such things  as no encryptions safety and SOPA/PIPA i would stop anything on the internet related to purchases or making accounts, except fake ones for forums like LTT.

I hope the internet keeps moving towards more encryption and more privacy not more spying.

This is just bullshit excuse no one gives a shit a bout terrorists, its just an excuse to control the internet information flow, same what happened with US/NSA etc after 9/11, probably would have happened anyway cause spying even their own people down to the last detail is the definition of 'merica.

[jos]

Mr. Cameron---- disappointed over the polls,,,, I feel there was some kinf of fixing...pre-election opinion polls suggested a tight race.. but...

[mikeeginger]

Any one else concerned that not only will this erode the privacy of innocent Citizens

But due to the UK's involvement in the 5 eyes program it will allow 

The US,OZ,NZ and CA to see all our activities Sigh* 

 

Ok now onto why Cameron will think he needs to do this 

So no doubt that his advisers will be saying encryption is making our job harder and so on .....

 

So how will Cameron try to scare us this time>?

No doubt he will use groups like ISIS and others to scare us with 

the help of his puppets the BBC and other media PUPPETS 

And try to create the idea supported by fear that Encryption is bad

and "You have nothing to fear" - Which will know is BS due to how much our data moves

Around and the many different laws that apply to each country and or Nation 

 

Ok here is the problem There isn't one service for us and one service for them

And here is lies the problem we are both using the same services and the encryption 

that keeps our data save also keeps there data save to a point.

 

Now let us remember that to a point will are speaking with out all the information and context 

 

How ever from my stand point they are not addressing a key issue 

How they collect data let me clear I am fine with my data being collected and stored 

But they should have no right to look at it unless there is a reason to 

We know from the Wiki leaks files and talks from Edward Snowden the intelligence agencies

Are abusing that power eg Looking at private nude photos of people with not reason to 

[o0Martin]

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com.au/bruce-schneier-david-cameron-proposed-encryption-ban-destroy-the-internet-2015-7

 

 

Alright so some of what has been said in this is a little worrying to hear although that can be credited to news articles based on politics obviously being a little more dramatic than they should be, however, I still believe that steps in this direction may not be that great. Currently trying to get access to encrypted information with a warrant may be reasonable to do, in some cases, although worryingly if something such as this can pass, then it could lead to a less secure environment for the internet in the UK.

 

Currently these "Strong" forms of encryption seem to mostly be targeted towards social media, although there are forms that can be used for other safety, such as encryption for purchases and such, I would honestly prefer if online businesses and retailers weren't more open to forms of attack due to having their more secure forms of encryption removed.

 

This personally seems like a few steps have been taken backwards in some regards, although how does the rest of you view this?

 

Is there merit to this, or is this just a crazy 'phase' that's happening and will be forgotten in a few weeks as per usual?

 

 

 

 

Please do not cause a massive political debate over parties and political groups, this is to be related to how it can affect us using technology and such!

 

 

Did I do this article right?

 

THIS IS OLD NEWS 

 

It's called the, 'snooping charter' it's been around for months now as a proposed bill to be passed. 

 

There were even multiple threads on LTT at the time 

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/290280-david-cameron-wants-to-ban-you-from-using-snapchat-and-whatsapp/

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/289706-david-cameron-wants-to-ban-encryption/

 

The only 'new' news which has been in the news as of recent is that relating to Theresa May: 

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/theresa-may-is-villain-of-the-year-for-snoopers-charter-says-internet-industry-10364641.html

 

And then in the last day or two 3/4 papers randomly brought the snooping charter up again, but the only bit of new news they passed on was that it 'may' come in the next 'couple of weeks' because David Cameron is 'Pressing ahead', the reason they did this is of no clue to me, literally they slapped on some headline which would catch peoples attention they all called it, "What'sApp faces UK Ban within weeks!" then knowing how people are they didn't actually read into it and a load of facebook/twitter posts spawned talking about WhatsApp being banned instead of everything negative the snooping charter may lead to lol

 

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/590061/WhatsApp-UK-Ban-Weeks-Snoopers-Charter 

 

Our country literally went ahead and voted in the worst possible party to government... it's sad that a government without Nick Clegg is somehow worse then one with, Nick Clegg was the reason this bill wasn't passed 3 years ago.

[Trik'Stari]

Yea.. goverments logic:

Terorists are driving cars! Lets make them illegal!

Terrorists are drinking coffee with sugar every morning! Lets make that illegal!

Terrorists are wiping their butt with toilet paper! Lets make it illegal!

 

They are actualy causing more harm than terrorists.

*plot twist* the governments are the terrorists at this point.

[Bittenfleax]

*plot twist* the governments are the terrorists at this point.

Yup, makes sense. 

[Delusional Phil]

Imagine the productivity after everything is encrypted and needs a password ... Great .... just great ... 

[Trik'Stari]

Imagine the productivity after everything is encrypted and needs a password ... Great .... just great ... 

If you're in a corporate/government environment, everything should already be password protected to begin with.

[Delusional Phil]

If you're in a corporate/government environment, everything should already be password protected to begin with.

What about private companies ? 

[Trik'Stari]

What about private companies ? 

Should still apply.

 

I'm in a networking security degree program, nothing should EVER be connected to the internet and not have some kind of password protection.

[WiiManic]

Unless I'm missing something its just so impossible.

 

First, all the encryption we use is open. Sure you can get the company to remove the implementation or have a back door (Talk about that in a sec), but the implementation of the encryption is open. I can just use the standard, encrypt whatever I feel like then send it over the open channel and I'm done. Only change is I encrypt it, instead of the technology doing it for me. You'd need to not only ban the encryption, but also then somehow to stop people ever finding a way to do it themselves.

 

Second is how could this ever work? Like you'd need WhatsApp, iMessage etc to all have either their own "Official UK Version", without all of it, or just straight ban them all. Then what happens if a French guy pops over? His iPhone has all this encrypted apps on it, that are illegal in the UK. Just failing to see how it would work.

Thirdly, what about all the legitimate uses of it? (Not that I think that terrorists or whatever crap they are using to get this through is true). Any online purchases need it. I'm not going to start sending all my details out over an open channel, nor will any large companies think that is a great idea either. Even trivial stuff is effected. Preloading games on Steam? Nope they are encrypted, so not anymore. It would cause a huge problem with all online banking, commerce etcetc. If it where actually to happen then a lot of companies would either have to have no security, or just leave the UK. It more harms the general public than whoever they are saying its really for, as the people that want it can still access it by just implementing it themselves.

 

Really, I think that this is more likely to be one extreme so when they "compromise" and "only" put in/ask for/require backdoors in software, its seen as a win.

Looks like they are just doing this to make whatever they actually want to do not seem quite as bad.

[Murdoch]

Unless I'm missing something its just so impossible.

 

First, all the encryption we use is open. Sure you can get the company to remove the implementation or have a back door (Talk about that in a sec), but the implementation of the encryption is open. I can just use the standard, encrypt whatever I feel like then send it over the open channel and I'm done. Only change is I encrypt it, instead of the technology doing it for me. You'd need to not only ban the encryption, but also then somehow to stop people ever finding a way to do it themselves.

 

Nope, you're not missing anything. You're exactly correct. All they are setting out to achieve is to undermine the security of law abiding citizens, any "terrorist" that needs to use their own encryption will do so. If I were to tinfoil hat it, I'd say the purpose of this bill has little to do with terrorism, and is about the ability to spy on and ultimately control domestic populations.