Posted on 10/24/2017 12:21:24 AM PDT by Fedora
A top Justice Department official on Tuesday criticized technology companies that "enable criminals and terrorists" with encryption software and foreshadowed a new government approach to the issue that has increasingly frustrated law enforcement.
"When investigations of violent criminal organizations come to a halt because we cannot access a phone, lives may be lost," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said...
"The approach taken in the recent past--negotiating with technology companies and hoping that they eventually will assist law enforcement out of a sense of civic duty--is unlikely to work," he said.
Though he did not outline future steps, Rosenstein, seemed to be taking up..a fight propelled by former FBI Director James Comey in the last administration.
Referred to at times as "going dark," the emergence of encrypted communication channels impenetrable to law enforcement even with proper warrants has proved an unsolvable issue.
Over the past year, the FBI was unable to access about 7,500 devices seized in investigations...
"Technology companies almost certainly will not develop responsible encryption if left to their own devices," Rosenstein said--stopping short of singling out any specific companies. "Competition will fuel a mindset that leads them to produce products that are more and more impregnable. That will give criminals and terrorists more opportunities to cause harm with impunity."
Technology firms have regularly balked at calls by law enforcement to open up encrypted devices or reserve a key that a company could use to access content requested by court order as seeking "back doors" that would compromise their clients' privacy and expose them to hacking.
"It's called a back door because someone can sneak in" said Michelle Richardson, deputy director of the Freedom, Security and Technology Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, which advocates for online civil liberties. "Even when the key sits in the company's hands, that can still happen."...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I’m not so sure the “backdoor” longing of govt officials even makes sense from a wider policy standpoint, since tech companies which were known to cooperate would likely lose a ton of business over time from millions of people with perfectly legal concerns about their privacy etc. Even one company (possibly overseas) which was known as impervious to govt surveillance might corral a lot of the market over time. The end result after some years might simply be that some/most tech companies had lost a lot of market share to those companies (often foreign) which did not cooperate. Are we going to ban all sale and use of electronic devices from companies which DO NOT allow the govt access channels for LEO?
I don’t think it’s such an easy issue, at least.
Maybe if the government stopped vacuuming up all data it can gets its hands on, and hacking into the private lives of ordinary private law-abiding citizens, then maybe, just maybe, the average person would have been OK with some sort of compromise solution on encryption.
But that genie is out of the bottle, and the average citizens recognizes that the US Government is not working for the benefit of the masses but instead working to control and monitor everyone for the benefit of the political class - I say let the feds pound sand.
Ditto.
Rosenstein and Comey are swamp maggots!
China has the backdoor built into the chips.
Our wannabe goose-steppers are amateurs at that.
If there wasn’t such distrust of gonernment their would be less of a problem. But with asset forfeiture, irs abuses, etc is it any wonder people want safety?
xxsk iiusd hhs74 fdsasthdf
That’s encrypted for Go to HELL, fascists!
The government continues to attempt to take away our arms, our means of meeting privately, and our means of being “secure in our persons and papers.” They have no respect for the Constitution nor our rights.
Over the past year, the FBI was unable to access about 7,500 devices seized in investigations...
Tim Cook should tell the FBI that the encryption keys to unlock every Iphone ever made were were etched in to the Front Door of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco.
No.
A bunch of microcomputer chips our government had manufactured over there for military applications came with built in back doors.
Was a bit of an embarrassment for procurement.
If you want to discover what smartphones are secure just find out what the Russian officials carry.
For a century the Russians have been planting false info in encrypted form to see what the US would react to...thus they discover if they can decrypt it.
Considering the Feral government was pushing the 'clipper chip' at the time, your comment is even better.
Protonmail is the most secure I have found.
And since the server is located in Switzerland, it is beyond the reach of US control.
Just don’t loose your password!
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