

When Phone Encryption Blocks Justice - rm_-rf_slash
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/12/opinion/apple-google-when-phone-encryption-blocks-justice.html?referrer=

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greenyoda
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10040467](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10040467)

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bediger4000
_The new encryption policies of Apple and Google have made it harder to
protect people from crime._

So does the 4th Amendment. And the 2nd Amendment.

Nobody ever said that Freedom is Free. In fact, wasn't that one of the DoD's
recruiting slogans or something? "Freedom isn't Free". "The Liberty Tree must
be watered with the blood of free men".

This op-ed clearly comes down on the side of a police state. That's a bad
outcome for all concerned. Police states always have a bloody end, but they
have a bloody middle as well.

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ryan-c
Interesting that the article doesn't mention whether they made any attempt to
crack the PIN/password. Android uses the screen lock PIN/password for
encryption (unless you root the device and change it), so I would expect it to
be crackable at some moderate cost in most cases. I'm not sure what Apple
does.

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tired_man
You shouldn't expect anyone who wants to end private access to encryption to
actually tell anyone that they _can_ get past the encryption with a bit of
effort and more work than simply booting the phone.

The focus of this story is the government's desire to end private encryption
and their push to make you believe that that encryption somehow renders them
completely them helpless. This article falls in the same category as W. R.
Hearst's rants about the Spanish in the 1890's and the US Federal Bureau of
Narcotics's Reefer Madness dis-information campaign from the 30's.

All three of these PR campaigns are based in Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. The
Spanish-American War and America's war on marijuana were both generated for
someone's self-interest and nothing more.

The anti-encryption movement is just another heaping helping of FUD bullshit.
Except this time it shaking down into a situation where governments are afraid
of your ability to have a truly private conversation with another individual.

Any government that feels it should fears its citizens has a good reason to be
fearful. Guilt.

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ryan-c
That's actually the point I was trying to make - this is either a blatant FUD
piece or written by someone totally clueless.

~~~
tired_man
The more people who see these articles labeled as FUD, the easier it becomes
to prevent governments from justifying this campaign against encryption.

