We need strong crypto for us, but not for you.
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I suspect people like the DOJ’s “Crypto Warrior” say shit like this for a couple of reasons. On the surface they are saying something to give those who don’t understand crypto warm fuzzies. “You should vote for / like me because I’m going straighten this out so we can all be secure and relax.”
I think the other reason they give themselves titles like “crypto warrior” and say bullshit that makes no sense is to just troll those of us who do understand it. When we hear about their bullshit and then start turning red, pulling our hair and spluttering about how it doesn’t work that way it probably causes us to lose our credibility.
As for his “People want to secure their houses, but they still need to get in and out. Same issue here.” comment it will make sense to a lot of people but what he’s really saying is even though you can go out and purchase really good locks and security systems everybody should just stick to using KwikSet locksets because we can get a master key to all of those.
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One of my fears is that Theresa May and Amber Rudd (or whoever takes over from them) decides that the answer is encryption licences. People who are judged to not be a security risk get strong encryption, while the rest of us get weak encryption. That way the banks can continue to be secure while the rest of us can be easily spied on by the cops or the local council.
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That would be the reality in any world where these ideas were put into practice.
I don’t think banks would necessarily get strong crypto though. After all, how would the security apparatus keep tabs on them? Terrorists are money-launderers. You spot them through the money like any criminal.
I suspect there would be several tiers of alleged crypto-strength. The peon-level for us which would be see-through for anyone who really wants to look, the banking level which would be certified as being ‘really very secure, honest guv’ but still has government-mandated backdoors (and is therefore much as now), and the NSA/GCHQ level which is supposedly backdoor-free.
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You know, brute-forcing gets a bad rap. The time to crack quoted is the time to try every known combination, usually given as “greater than the lifetime of the universe”, but on average you’ll hit the jackpot in just half that.
/s
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But if they do that then they may end up with another Paradise Papers happening. The “important” people need their unbreakable encryption far more than us proles.
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RMS is extremely dubious of your motivation “rod”
Hardware or software that is engineered to betray its owners is inherently immoral.
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Apparently there are regions of China where they have checkpoints to inspect your phone and make sure that the government backdoor app is on it.
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Well of course they do. But they genuinely don’t seem to grasp that “not absolutely completely secure”=“not secure at all”.
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My money is on a combination of “don’t care” and being power-drunk.
When you can make things happen by shouting at underlings you start to forget that you are but mortal and start thinking you can order about the tide and fundamental mathematics.
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