
EFF Opposes McCaul-Warner Encryption Commission - DiabloD3
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/03/eff-opposes-mccaul-warner-encryption-commission
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fweespee_ch
> The makeup of the commission is also an issue. The law enforcement and
> intelligence community is overrepresented with 6 out of 16 seats. Because 12
> of the 16 commission’s members are required to issue subpoenas or approve
> any conclusions, those 6 members have tremendous influence over the
> commission’s investigations and the content of any report.

Seat stuffing to control the direction of the committee is how you know they
bias to control the "commission" in a given direction.

The original commission members [both of whom are intelligence/LE biased] + 6
LE officers = 50% control, so it is actually worse than the EFF is saying.

> The Warner-McCaul proposal ignores what technical experts, computer
> scientists, and others have repeatedly told Congress for more than 20 years:
> weakening encryption standards and mandating backdoors (or key escrow) for
> government access will make people and their devices less safe. Indeed, the
> very existence of the Warner-McCaul bill will be used to prolong an
> unnecessary conversation.

Honestly, I think EFF is understating the risk. Its quite possible this
Commission won't get vetoed like the EFF believes, particularly given they can
try under Obama [who might veto it] and in 2017 under the next president. Its
basically veto shopping since it looks like Clinton will win [who won't veto
it].

[http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/19/10628208/hillary-
clinton-...](http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/19/10628208/hillary-clinton-back-
door-debate)

> "It doesn't do anybody any good if terrorists can move toward encrypted
> communication that no law enforcement agency can break into before or
> after," Clinton said. "There must be some way. I don't know enough about the
> technology to be able to say what it is, but I have a lot of confidence in
> our tech experts."

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MawNicker
Ugh. I hate that sentiment at the end. My boss thinks I'm a wizard. I am not a
wizard. It's hard to live up to expectations. Especially when it's provably
impossible to do what I've been asked and I'm expected to try anyway. How do I
know if I haven't tried?

Because I'm a wizard and that's not how magic works.

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valine
I'm always reading articles about how we need more 'programming' classes in
high schools. I think what we really need is more education centered around
encryption. We can't expect to have intelligent discussions on the importance
of internet privacy if the general public can't understand what's at stake.

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chatmasta
We need more computer scientists in congress. I expect we'll see a lot more
technically competent politicians in the coming decades. Voters like smart
people, and those who were once seen as "nerds" can now garner the respect of
everyday Americans. People who "know about computers" are seen as smart. A
smooth talking, highly technical, successful startup founder will have a good
chance of winning a state-level election.

Within 20 years, when all these ignorant fossils in congress finally die,
hopefully some smart and technically informed people will replace them.

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ethbro
We need more {insert professional specialty} in Congress.

Putting lawyers in charge of everything is like using MBAs to directly manage
technical projects.

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Chlorus
Those damn lawyers! It's almost as if Congress' job involves laws, or
something!

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sdjjehjebeb
The only real job for Congress us fund raising, since that's what they do with
the plurality of their time.

Essentially their job is prostitution.

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krisdol
Do they try to get this message out to people in congress?

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mordocai
A large percentage of what they do is lobbying against things like this, so
yes. I don't know if they've sent anything out to congress members about this
quite yet but if they haven't they will.

