
Silicon Valley Should Join the War on Terrorism by John McCain - hacman
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-02-05/silicon-valley-should-join-the-war-on-terrorism
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vhold
Legislation making companies force themselves to have backdoors doesn't stop
terrorists from using encryption.

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erikpukinskis
Congress should join the war on poverty.

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godzillabrennus
Every time congress starts a war these days it ends up backfiring.

War in Iraq to stamp out terrorism? More terrorists.

War on drugs? More drugs.

Given that Congress is so good at failing to win a war it's about time we try
something new. Congress should start a war on the wealthy.

I bet they succeed only in creating more wealthy people in the process.

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EvanPlaice
Government should fix all the braindead policy that guarantees contracts are
only awarded to the 'old boy crowd' or new entrants that don't have the
skill/talent to do the work.

The DOD outsources nearly everything that requires specialized skill and/or
knowledge. Which is fine but the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations) are
completely screwed.

18F and the USDS are showing a lot of promise in this domain. But, 'fixing the
government' shouldn't be limited only to teams that have been blessed by
presidental decree.

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Is this so-called encrypted messaging app that doesn't exist really the issue
here.

ISIS doesn't have the talent to build such a thing. What they have is a lot of
money and a lot of young guys to run a mass propaganda campaign.

When they're not doing that they're playing video games and communicating over
team chat.

Want to hit them where it hurts, block Syria's access to the XBox and PS4
online gaming platforms. Better yet, block FB and Twitter.

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serge2k
> ISIS doesn't have the talent to build such a thing.

not sure why you think that. Money would give them access I would think, if
direct recruiting fails.

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EvanPlaice
Hypothetically, lets say money does solve the problem of developing a secure,
encrypted communication.

How would ISIS go about distributing and training hundreds and thousands of
grunts to use said app. Assuming most of their force is technically illiterate
and/or literally illiterate. And, manages to do so without leaking the
information to opposition intel.

For every developer willing to create such a tool for financial incentives
there are likely an order of magnitude more grunts who would be willing to
leak the information for a cash payout.

Make no mistake. For as much as ISIS loves to preach that their cause is
purely ideologically driven, their existence depends on the ability to pay
their troops a living wage.

You know what form of communication suffers from none of those issues? What
their grunts likely already use? Gaming systems and voice chat. Considering
the demographic of their fighting force, that's the first place I'd look.

Don't get me wrong. I respect John McCain for his service. I just think his
motivations lately are focused more on policy and less on the war effort. The
end goal being, to once again outlaw the non-government sanctioned use of
encryption.

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dTal
While you make some good points, I find implausible the argument that the
average grunt is too technically/literally illiterate to use a chat app, yet
competent enough to use "gaming systems and voice chat".

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jqm
This is one guy I wish would just go away. He seems to be perpetually
advocating for war.

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ccvannorman
In addition for wishing that, what actions can regular citizens take to
prevent more of them from propagating and mongering for war?

\- Vote for peaceful / isolationism candidates (and talk about this with your
friends)

\- Vote for penalties for conflict of interest/corruption related to war
(owning stock in weapons companies that sell weapons to wars you legislated
for)

\- Eliminate the need for war by making it obsolete, e.g. providing all would-
be war-joiners with better options (spend money on libraries, positive media,
startups..?)

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Zigurd
Don't hire anyone with a security-state background.

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cruhl
Spoken like a true autocrat.

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serge2k
> This position is ideologically motivated and profit-driven, though not
> without merit

They also have a clue what the hell they are talking about.

Politicians should shut the fuck up in the face of experts.

I also don't understand why they think that ISIS and the like would have
trouble accessing encryption because the US government says they get to
control things now. The technology is freely available.

