
Police want backdoor to Web users' private data - jacquesm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10446503-38.html
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tumult
_CNET has reviewed a survey scheduled to be released at a federal task force
meeting on Thursday, which says that seven-year-old girls are virtually
unanimous in calling for ownership of ponies. Eighty-nine percent of the girls
surveyed, it says, want to be able to "Brush their manes and ride around the
yard" through an encrypted, seven-year-old-girl-only "nationwide pony
network."_

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tptacek
A private system for handling electronic search warrants is not the same thing
as a "backdoor to web users private data".

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timdorr
It's interesting that Cox actually has a price list for these sorts of things.
That's ballsy. Most ISPs just see someone with some form of authority and tuck
their tail.

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dpritchett
That's not entirely true. Yahoo issued a takedown notice last year when its
price sheet was leaked. I imagine most major US carriers have firm policies
given the frequency with which they must service these requests.

<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/12/yahoo-spy-prices/>

Edit: Dug through a bit on my own link and found that Cryptome unearthed some
of these price sheets with a FOIA request to the US Marshals. Implicated
companies included Cox, Comcast, Yahoo, and Verizon.

<http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/12/wiretap-prices/>

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jodrellblank
_Authorized users would communicate through encrypted virtual private networks
in order to maintain the security of the data._

Buzzword security right there.

 _Kardasz's survey, based on questionnaires completed by 100 police
investigators, says that 61 percent of them had their investigations harmed
"because data was not retained"_

39% of police investigators' investigations would be unsolvable even if they
knew everything about them?

 _the "legal compliance secure Web portal_

Why the need to add 'secure' to the name anyway?

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tptacek
What's "buzzword security" about virtual private networks? I'd be appalled if
this wasn't running over a VPN. Just be thankful they aren't asking for $3Bn
to run a new leased line network in 2010.

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jodrellblank
Virtual Private Networks themselves aren't buzzwordy; a non-technical article
which includes, effectively, "don't worry about bad things because
{name_of_popular_technology} will make it safe" is buzzwordy.

Or it would be if it said that - a second reading shows I've taken it out of
context, that's not how it's used in the article. I apologise to anyone
misjudged.

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peter_o
This is terrible! I can't imagine the incredible amount of abuse the police
will be performing if they have such a toy.

Neither the police nor the government should EVER be trusted with such kind of
power.

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streety
At least with one centralised system there will be a definitive log of who has
accessed what and when they accessed it. Hopefully it will add some
accountability. It sure beats post-it notes.

