Tech companies have taken a stronger stance on the issue [of cooperating with government agencies] since whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed the U.S. government’s massive surveillance programs, in which tech companies under court order provided data to the National Security Agency.
To many tech companies, the revelations were an embarrassment that also endangered their bottom lines.
“I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services,” Apple CEO Tim Cook says in an open letter on the company’s site. “We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.”
Tech companies have insisted that building in any kind of guaranteed access for the government would breach consumer privacy and build weaknesses into the technology that would allow criminals to hack into devices just as easily as law enforcement.
Law enforcement sources argue that Snowden’s revelations led terrorists and criminals to go dark and move to encrypted devices, intensifying the need for companies to cooperate with police.
...The White House has sided with technology companies, saying last month it would not pursue legislation requiring firms to give law enforcement access to encrypted data.
“There shouldn’t be venom” between law enforcement and Silicon Valley, [FBI Director Comey] said during a House Intelligence Committee hearing in September. “We should all care about the same thing.”
...Some believe that if the attacks on Paris don’t change the dynamic, nothing will.
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/260537-feds-fight-to-end-phone-secrecy-after-paris-attacks
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Is Director Comey right that tech companies and government security agencies should care about the same thing?
The Paris attacks were horrific, but I question logic of compromising our individual privacy and security, both social and financial. The French are in shock, but to borrow a phrase from a comment I saw at another site, Americans have the constant background noise of mass shootings, so the Paris event doesn't evoke in us the terror felt by the French.
To many tech companies, the revelations were an embarrassment that also endangered their bottom lines.
“I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services,” Apple CEO Tim Cook says in an open letter on the company’s site. “We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.”
Tech companies have insisted that building in any kind of guaranteed access for the government would breach consumer privacy and build weaknesses into the technology that would allow criminals to hack into devices just as easily as law enforcement.
Law enforcement sources argue that Snowden’s revelations led terrorists and criminals to go dark and move to encrypted devices, intensifying the need for companies to cooperate with police.
...The White House has sided with technology companies, saying last month it would not pursue legislation requiring firms to give law enforcement access to encrypted data.
“There shouldn’t be venom” between law enforcement and Silicon Valley, [FBI Director Comey] said during a House Intelligence Committee hearing in September. “We should all care about the same thing.”
...Some believe that if the attacks on Paris don’t change the dynamic, nothing will.
http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/260537-feds-fight-to-end-phone-secrecy-after-paris-attacks
-------------------
Is Director Comey right that tech companies and government security agencies should care about the same thing?
The Paris attacks were horrific, but I question logic of compromising our individual privacy and security, both social and financial. The French are in shock, but to borrow a phrase from a comment I saw at another site, Americans have the constant background noise of mass shootings, so the Paris event doesn't evoke in us the terror felt by the French.
8 comments:
Tough call, but I side with privacy. The terrorists will always find and already have a way to avoid detection anyhow, and we will just be left with no privacy and no better security. Similar to gun control where only the law abiding have to jump through hoops.
Encryption is just math. They can't outlaw math.
The classic paper (1929) is Cryptography in an Algebraic Alphabet
pdf
The issue is we've seen how that kind of data access can be abused.
ThinkProgress spent the last 24 hours trying to tell everyone, "but most of the attackers where French, not Syrian". I wonder if ThinkProgress will spend anytime noting that the attackers used unencrypted SMS text for coordination?
rh, you show-off :)
Interesting, Leland, I hadn't heard that.
AT&T was the clear winner in all of this. Their government cooperation allowed them to cash in their multi-billion dollar deal with the Dish network and have the government FCC/SEC/FTC bureau-weenies approve it with hardly a blink.
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