
Five-Eyes nations to force encryption backdoors - octosphere
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/five-eyes-nations-to-force-encryption-backdoors-511865
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berti
HN post from yesterday
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17898498](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17898498)

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stedaniels
I know I'm preaching to the choir here but... I'm glad all those law abiding
criminals and terrorists will only use government sanctioned services with the
back doors in. They'll never think about using anything else. Oh wait. They
will. So all the government will be spying on will be law abiding citizens. So
when the system is inevitably breachrd, only law abiding citizen will have
their data expossed. The people pushing this are either very smart, very
stupid, or a mixture of the both wth the smart channeling the stupid.

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mercer
It's worth pointing out. I don't think all the people pushing this are stupid.
I'm sure some are, but there are plenty of 'clever' ones who are comforted by
the thought that, under whatever guise, their citizens are monitored. I am
pessimistic enough in these matters to believe in a kind of reverse Hanlon's
razor.

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cal5k
My basic stance at this point is that, even with the best justification in the
world for breaking encryption, governments cannot be trusted to safeguard
keys.

They WILL be stolen by adversaries. Full stop.

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gmuslera
You don't need full sized, nor declared, adversaries. NSA workers, and
associated private contractors have lost, leaked or even published backdoors
and other very private information in the not so far past, along with
questionable security practices in their own computers. Individuals, criminal
organizations, corporations and so on will get pretty soon access to those
backdoors, and that is something that will impact everyone.

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golem14
Better link:

[https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/national-
security/five-...](https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/national-
security/five-country-ministerial-2018)

Relevant text here would be:

""" Encryption

18 Encryption is vital to the digital economy, a secure cyberspace and the
protection of personal, commercial and government information. The five
countries have no interest or intention to weaken encryption mechanisms. We
recognise, however, that encryption, including end-to-end encryption, is also
used in the conduct of terrorist and criminal activities. The inability of
intelligence and law enforcement agencies to lawfully access encrypted data
and communications poses challenges to law enforcement agencies' efforts to
protect our communities. Therefore, we agreed to the urgent need for law
enforcement to gain targeted access to data, subject to strict safeguards,
legal limitations, and respective domestic consultations. We have agreed to a
_Statement of Principles on Access to Evidence and Encryption_
([https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/national-
security/five-...](https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/about/national-
security/five-country-ministerial-2018/access-evidence-encryption) ) that sets
out a framework for discussion with industry on resolving the challenges to
lawful access posed by encryption, while respecting human rights and
fundamental freedoms. """

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jwr
Let me clarify the phrase "targeted access to data", as we already know what
that means — a good example sits right in front of us. The current NSA
wiretaps and massive information gathering operations including wiretaps,
fiber optic splices, and equipment installed at network exchange points are
what is understood by "targeted access to data".

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wyldfire
> A free, open, safe and secure internet

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

We can hope that the LEOs who propose these regulations hold limited sway
against the legislators who we elect to represent our will.

EDIT: downvoters, please join the debate.

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bodas
Wasn't this settled by djb? The US government can't punish you for publishing
encryption software because it is protected by the first amendment.

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ajbetteridge
Sadly other countries (I'm in the UK) don't have such protections.

