Why Outlawing Encryption Is Wrong - InformationWeek

InformationWeek is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them.Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

CIO Insights & Innovation
Security & Risk Strategy
Team Building & Staffing
IT Strategy
Digital Business
Project Management
Programming Languages
Dr. Dobb's
Enterprise Applications
Operating Systems
Productivity/Collaboration Apps
Network Security
Careers & People
Threat Intelligence
IoT
Attacks & Breaches
Application Security
Cloud Security
Endpoint Security
Mobile Security
Perimeter Security
Risk Management
Operations Security
Analytics
Vulnerabilities & Threats
Security & Risk Strategy
Infrastructure as a Service
Platform as a Service
Software as a Service
Cloud Storage
Data Centers
Mobile Applications
Mobile Devices
Mobile Business
Enterprise Mobility Management
AI/Machine Learning
Big Data Analytics
Hardware/Architectures
Software Platforms
IoT
Networking
Wireless Infrastructure
Data Centers
Cloud Infrastructure
Careers and Certifications
Network Security
Government
Healthcare
Wall Street & Technology
Bank Systems & Technology
Insurance & Technology
Industries
Government
Healthcare
Wall Street & Technology
Bank Systems & Technology
Insurance & Technology
IT Life
Careers
Mobile
Mobile Applications
Mobile Devices
Mobile Business
Enterprise Mobility Management
Software
Enterprise Applications
Operating Systems
Productivity/Collaboration Apps
Comments
Why Outlawing Encryption Is Wrong
Newest First  |  Oldest First  |  Threaded View
Page 1 / 2   >   >>
ashepard233
50%
50%
ashepard233,
 User Rank: Apprentice
11/3/2014 | 4:59:36 PM
Founding Fathers believed in strong encryption.
  Founding fathers of America used strong, very strong encryption that was not broken untill 1942 with Alan Touring's computer at Blechly park.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_disk

    "First invented by Thomas Jefferson in 1795, this cipher did not become well known and was independently invented by Commandant Etienne Bazeries, the conqueror of the Great Cipher, a century later. The system was used by the United States Army from 1923 until 1942 as the M-94.  "

    Imagine using encryption that would not be broken for over 100 years or past our death.
 
    Even if it is encrypted, message traffic shows connections of criminals. Enough for law enforcement to figure out who might be a bad guy.

   People use hard encryption now. The FBI put out a call for people who speak ebonics because the FBI does not. "Damn, the shizzel dog." (in English - "It is true my friend")

   A new worry. What happens when a person tells the truth "I forgot the key" and they can not un-encrypt a message under court order?  How many times do we forget passwords of systems we are using let alone a message encrypted years ago.

  This is still a new area of law IMO.
PaulS681
50%
50%
PaulS681,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/25/2014 | 5:28:21 PM
Crazyness
This is just crazy. The FBI is admitting they can't decrypt everything so the answer is outlaw any encryption it can't decrypt? The crazy part is how do they plan to enforce this? Or do they think the bad guys will help them out?

 
asksqn
50%
50%
asksqn,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/25/2014 | 1:40:30 PM
Freeh Redux
Considering that Comey & co.'s fairy tale villans of the Infopocalypse have been debunked time and again with facts, it is comical that he continues to speak against encryption.   Further, it is clear that he does not grasp the concept of encryption since he attempts to pay lip service to the Fourth Amendment and then immediately contradicts himself.  We've seen this struggle over encryption in the 90s when Louie Freeh as director so all this happening now is just warmed over crap with the government desperately hoping to usurp civil liberties in the name of apprehending child molesting terrorists who kidnap. (and probably have ebola just to add to the FBIs FUD.)  Same lot of lies, different decade.
PedroGonzales
50%
50%
PedroGonzales,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/23/2014 | 10:59:23 AM
Re: Agreed
I agree that allowing for back doors in current encryption systems is a terrible idea.  From all the info we have found out about the NSA they don't need a back door, they already can and did access our data.  I understand the point that government employees are people too with their good and bad traits.  A bad employee can really do huge damage to a person or entity by access such information through a back door. 
Brian.Dean
50%
50%
Brian.Dean,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/23/2014 | 9:33:03 AM
Re: Agreed
Encryption is an on-going business, it has to be on-going otherwise security standards will not increase and businesses will not be able to protect their customers. It hurts the economy if data is compromised, Target and Home Depot are a few examples -- carrying cash is a waste of human time resources as each additional trip to the ATM is not adding anything to the GDP.

The number of players in the market that are developing encryption is too large, collecting and securing back-door keys from each firm is going to cost a government. Keys will need to be collected from firms that are operating outside the economic region. Keys will need to be shared with other economic regions as well, because their governments also want to catch their bad guys.

One solution could be that the government should setup a super computer facility for decryption (that will cost lot of capital). This way, law enforcement agencies could queue the facility much like scientists would queue for super computer resources to run their models. It would be transparent because lots of people would be involved, for instance, a judge making the decision that a certain user's information should be decrypted and next, an IT team viewing and decrypted data.

If anyone has a solution, please do share it with us.
Joe Stanganelli
100%
0%
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Author
10/23/2014 | 2:06:55 AM
Boo-hooism
This whole thing is ridiculous.  Yes, it makes their job "more difficult" -- in the sense that closed/locked doors, coat pockets, and the Fourth Amendment make their job "more difficult."
Joe Stanganelli
50%
50%
Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Author
10/23/2014 | 2:05:21 AM
Re: Agreed
Indeed, the point about good eggs and bad eggs is well taken.

I had a client whose ex-wife left him for a local cop.

Surprise, surprise, he was not treated well by local police after that.
mak63
50%
50%
mak63,
 User Rank: Ninja
10/22/2014 | 6:41:48 PM
Let's get real
"FBI Director James Comey is making the news rounds to equate data encryption with letting child pornographers, kidnappers, and terrorists roam unchecked."

How many times we heard this argument in the past? It's getting old. Congress will never pass such a law. Doing so will hindered our rights under the constitution.

Let me be the first to laugh.

Yanda
50%
50%
Yanda,
 User Rank: Apprentice
10/22/2014 | 6:41:20 PM
Re: Agreed
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" Which my twelve year old daughter translated as, "who will clean up after these custodians?". Will the FBI director insist on everybody removing their bedroom curtains next? After all, only criminals want to conceal anything from him.
Thomas Claburn
100%
0%
Thomas Claburn,
 User Rank: Author
10/22/2014 | 6:39:17 PM
Re: Agreed
Worst of all is the deja vu...we already had this argument and common sense prevailed.

From a Bruce Schneier blog post on the topic: 

We've seen this game before. During the crypto wars of the 1990s, FBI Director Louis Freeh and others would repeatedly use the example of mobster John Gotti to illustrate why the ability to tap telephones was so vital. But the Gotti evidence was collected using a room bug, not a telephone tap. And those same scary criminal tropes were trotted out then, too. Back then we called them the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse: pedophiles, kidnappers, drug dealers, and terrorists. Nothing has changed.
Page 1 / 2   >   >>


2020 State of DevOps Report
2020 State of DevOps Report
Download this report today to learn more about the key tools and technologies being utilized, and how organizations deal with the cultural and process changes that DevOps brings. The report also examines the barriers organizations face, as well as the rewards from DevOps including faster application delivery, higher quality products, and quicker recovery from errors in production.
Download Now!
Editors' Choice
Slideshows
10 Trends Accelerating Edge Computing
Cynthia Harvey, Freelance Journalist, InformationWeek,  10/8/2020
Commentary
Is Cloud Migration a Path to Carbon Footprint Reduction?
Joao-Pierre S. Ruth, Senior Writer,  10/5/2020
News
IT Spending, Priorities, Projects: What's Ahead in 2021
Jessica Davis, Senior Editor, Enterprise Apps,  10/2/2020
Register for InformationWeek Newsletters
Video
Current Issue
[Special Report] Edge Computing: An IT Platform for the New Enterprise
Edge computing is poised to make a major splash within the next generation of corporate IT architectures. Here's what you need to know!
Download This Issue!
White Papers
Slideshows
Twitter Feed
Sponsored Live Streaming Video
Everything You've Been Told About Mobility Is Wrong
Attend this video symposium with Sean Wisdom, Global Director of Mobility Solutions, and learn about how you can harness powerful new products to mobilize your business potential.
Sponsored Video
Flash Poll