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FBI Director Says Congress Will Fix Phone Encryption 'Problem;' Congress Says 'Bite Us'

Politics

from the Bureau-cordially-invited-to-go-fuck-itself dept

Thu, Oct 23rd 2014 10:25am — Tim Cushing

James Comey's pleas that something must be done for the [potentially-molested] children of the United States seem to be falling on mostly deaf ears. Mostly. After realizing that there's nothing in current laws that compels Google and Apple to punch law enforcement-sized holes in their default encryption, Comey has decided to be the change he wishes to force in others.

Having set the stage with a Greek chorus comprised of law enforcement officials chanting "iPhones are for pedophiles," Comey is now making overtures to legislators, targeting an already-suspect law for further rewriting: CALEA, or the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. As it stands now, the law specifically does NOT require service providers to decrypt data or even provide law enforcement with the means for decryption. Up until this point, the FBI's director seemed to consider Congressional support a foregone conclusion.

Last week, FBI director James Comey suggested that encryption "threatens to lead all of us to a very dark place" and suggested that if Apple and Google don't remove default encryption from iOS and Android then "Congress might have to force this on companies."
Now, Congress members are firing back at Comey, reminding him that Congress doesn't have to do shit.
"To FBI Director Comey and the Admin on criticisms of legitimate businesses using encryption: you reap what you sow," California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa tweeted. "The FBI and Justice Department must be more accountable—tough sell for them to now ask the American people for more surveillance power."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren estimates Comey's legislative "fix" has a "zero percent" chance of passing. This tepid statement is the warmest response Comey's received so far.
“It's going to be a tough fight for sure,” Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the Patriot Act’s original author, told The Hill in a statement.
Of course, in this anti-surveillance climate, there aren't too many representatives willing to openly support toxic rewrites like the one Comey desires. But give it a few more years and anything's possible. This is the time to start watching upcoming bills closely. It's not completely unheard of for unpopular legislation to be tacked onto other bills whose popularity (or complete mundanity) gives them a higher chance of passing.

Comey also still seems to think that it's simply a matter of wording. He's done all he can to portray the encrypted future as a nightmarish world where child abusers, drug dealers and terrorists run amok while law enforcement fumbles around in the dark. This clumsy propaganda machine has done little to soften up the public or its representatives. Now, he's shifting gears, pretending that it's not a "backdoor" he's seeking, but rather some sort of magical doggie door for law enforcement.
“We want to use the front door with clarity and transparency,” he said.
How that word picture converts to real life remains to be seen. Comey doesn't seem to have any idea but believes the answer runs through an amended CALEA. The good news is that no one's in any hurry to help him out. The FBI (and much of law enforcement) is so used to getting what they want (as well as being completely absent when it's time to reap what's been sown) with minimal resistance that this pushback has forced them to think on their feet -- something they're clearly not comfortable doing. Between talk of "golden keys" and the hilarious assumption that Congress would simply do as it's told, the FBI's anti-encryption fit-pitching is looking more ridiculous by the moment.

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Filed Under: darrell issa, encryption, fbi, james comey, jim sensenbrenner, phones, zoe lofgren

43 Comments

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Reader Comments

The First Word

“

Terminology lesson for law enforcement:

Front Door: This is what I use. It's the PIN on my phone, or the password on my computer. I'm not giving you my PIN, so you will need a Golden Key, see below.

Golden Key: If this Golden Key is to be used on the Front Door, then you are still using the front door. Which is only possible using my PIN. Which you can't have. See above. If it's used on the Back Door, see below.

Back Door: This is the only way to get in without my PIN, and is what criminals use. It is a hole in my security. If I wanted to let people in, they would come in through the Front Door. If it is possible for one person to get in the Back Door without my permission, then it will be possible for ANYBODY to get in without my permission.

In summary: If you aren't me, and you don't have permission, you must therefore be a criminal.
—AC
 ”

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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 10:29am

    Good for Rep. Issa stating the reality of the situation.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 11:56am

      Re: Issa

      "To FBI Director Comey and the Admin on criticisms of legitimate businesses using encryption..."

      Yep he's stating it alright. He's carving out 'business' use. What do you think that means for everybody else?

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        RonKaminsky (profile), 25 Oct 2014 @ 3:02pm

        Re: Re: Issa

        We're all merely very small businesses?

        If corporations are automatically people, shouldn't it work the other way?

        (Yes, yes, I know about that "gold" aphorism...)

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Nim the Invincible, 23 Oct 2014 @ 10:30am

    One thing I have never understood is what encryption has to do with child molestation, if we go with the hiding the crime angle then by that logic knives and saws should be band because they can be used to cut up and dispose of a body, the level of stupid that is being propagated is insane.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    AricTheRed (profile), 23 Oct 2014 @ 10:30am

    And this is different from...

    "He's done all he can to portray the encrypted future as a nightmarish world where child abusers, drug dealers and terrorists run amok while law enforcement fumbles around in the dark..."

    This is different from the current situation right now, how?

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    FM Hilton, 23 Oct 2014 @ 10:54am

    Time passes

    We can only hope and pray that when we elect the next president, that Comey will be 'invited' to step down, due to the past few years worth of revelations about the FBI's assistance in enabling spying.

    Even if the Republicans control Congress. He's not very well liked by either party.

    They might have confirmed him, but only because he was the only one who would take the job.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 11:00am

    He doesn't know the difference between a 'front door' and a 'back door' in software yet tries to use it in typical political double-speak.

    Tip: There's no difference.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 11:05am

      Re:

      I propose we start calling it the phone's cloaca.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 1:00pm

      Re:

      You misunderstand. He's talking about the "front door" on the other side of the "backdoor". You know, it's all about equality of "doors". Get it?

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    AC, 23 Oct 2014 @ 11:01am

    Terminology lesson for law enforcement:

    Front Door: This is what I use. It's the PIN on my phone, or the password on my computer. I'm not giving you my PIN, so you will need a Golden Key, see below.

    Golden Key: If this Golden Key is to be used on the Front Door, then you are still using the front door. Which is only possible using my PIN. Which you can't have. See above. If it's used on the Back Door, see below.

    Back Door: This is the only way to get in without my PIN, and is what criminals use. It is a hole in my security. If I wanted to let people in, they would come in through the Front Door. If it is possible for one person to get in the Back Door without my permission, then it will be possible for ANYBODY to get in without my permission.

    In summary: If you aren't me, and you don't have permission, you must therefore be a criminal.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      That One Guy (profile), 23 Oct 2014 @ 2:42pm

      Re: Terminology lesson for law enforcement:

      Someone get this man/woman a First Word and/or Most Insightful.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 11:08am

    “We want to use the front door with clarity and transparency,” he said.

    Anyone who uses my front either rings the doorbell ,knocks but most certainly calls ahead to make sure I'm there , Then it's up to me to let them in ,If they choose to force entry they may be shot beaten and on a slab. encryption is equal to my right to bear arms.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 11:11am

    Let's see if Congress's posture changes after the November elections. If course they'd never consider passing such toxic legislation right before an election.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 11:52am

    Comey is a Golden Keyhole...

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 12:00pm

    Time for another Sensenbrenner S**tpost

    That man has been the main sponsor of far too many rights-destroying bills for me to take him seriously when he defends civil liberties (remember REAL ID anyone?). He's only acting to preserve a semi-positive legacy for his name.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 12:02pm

    Dog and Pony shows.

    For surveillance to work- people have to believe they're devices are private. This hoopla is not about some struggle against law enforcement access to encryption- it's a distraction meant to lull people into false security. So long as devices have baseband coprocessors with access to main system ram- there's no need to 'break' encryption- the keys are available for the taking. There's your front door, and it's a safe bet they already have access- by stingray if not by direct access through the phone company. All this BS is just about convincing people they don't have access.

    "please, anything but the briar patch!" -briar rabbit.

    In regard to user absolute freedom/control, modern tech has a metaphorical terminal cancer, yet even otherwise competent news sources seam dead set on ignoring this and instead focusing on the threat of other phantom issues and distractions, symptoms. Perhaps that's by design as well- I'd like to hear techdirt categorically deny any NSL or other gov involvement limiting their speech/reporting.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      AJ, 23 Oct 2014 @ 1:29pm

      Re: Dog and Pony shows.

      "or surveillance to work- people have to believe they're devices are private."

      No one will ever believe that their phone is 100% secure, not anymore. That ship's sailed. This is damage control by Apple and Google nothing more.

      Think about it... If this really were to shut down the mass surveillance, the secret court would have had a secret hearing with secret evidence being argued on both sides by the same secret lawyer in front of a secret Judge who later would have secretly concluded that Apple and Google would be making a statement in the very near future, probably after the election, that would basically state that because of some technical issue or another... encryption wasn't going to be possible after all... sigh...

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 3:54pm

        Re: Re: Dog and Pony shows.

        They would also need the citizenry to believe that their justice system and the vast majority of their government are not corrupt.

        That is not happening without several hundred public executions of former politicians and government officials for breaking their oaths

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    seedeevee (profile), 23 Oct 2014 @ 12:12pm

    from Issa to Lofgren

    Pissed 'em off, from right to left.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 12:30pm

    No trust.

    How did it get to the point where I trust Google and MS with my personal information more than I would the FBI?

    Keep squeezing us and see what sort of horrors will pop out for you Mr. James Comey.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      That One Guy (profile), 23 Oct 2014 @ 1:02pm

      Re: No trust.

      If a company abuses their customer's trust enough, then that customer can, and potentially will, go elsewhere, so a company has reason to at least pretend to care about the rights and privacy of their customers.

      If the government abuses the trust of those below them on the other hand, you can't exactly 'switch governments'*, so people are stuck with what they've got. As such, the government doesn't have that 'They could go elsewhere, so we need to behave' threat hanging over their head.

      *To those who would say 'Yes you can, just vote out the current people, and vote in better ones to replace them!', when the system itself is corrupt, that's not really going to do much.

      [ link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 3:17pm

        Re: Re: No trust.

        ...just vote out the current people, and vote in better ones to replace them...

        I wish we actually had better ones to vote for.

        [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 1:20pm

    Yes congress, it really would be nice if you didn't let the worlds largest group of hackers determine what kind of digital security we should have.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Dirkmaster (profile), 23 Oct 2014 @ 1:26pm

    I have this wonderful fantasy

    Where we tell Comey and his cronies "Sure, we'll just give you every key to everything you want. You promise not to misuse it and not let it out, right? So, as a guarantee of that, you won't mind also giving us all your birth day and social security numbers. We'll encrypt them with that key, and put them right over here on PasteBin. No worries that the key will be leaked out and someone will get to that info, right?"

    Put up or shut up, assclown.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ysth (profile), 23 Oct 2014 @ 1:32pm

    Ubersoft's Boss schools the FBI

    https://www.eviscerati.org/comics/comic/storyline/Encryption-Conniption

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Andrew D. Todd, 23 Oct 2014 @ 3:08pm

    Let's Remember the Anthrax

    There is reason to suspect that the FBI played a part in the Anthrax Attacks, back in 2001. Certain elements in Congress were stalling over the passage of the USA Patriot Act, which was simply the FBI's perennial wish-list. So these delaying elements began receiving, ah, bouquets, of anthrax, and the bill was rapidly passed. In the following months, it gradually became apparent that the anthrax had come from the United States Government, and yet, no one drew the obvious inference. Unable to deny that the anthrax had come from the the United States Army laboratories at Ft. Detrick, the government went to great, and even extraordinary, lengths to frame a man named Steven Hatfill. Hatfill was more of a "policy wonk" than a working scientist, and attempts to incriminate him tended to founder on his lack of opportunity to gain access to the right kind of anthrax. Retroactively, it became apparent that the framing of Hatfill was done to protect Bruce Ivins. Ivins does not seem to have had any kind of political connections of a sort likely to involve him in a armed attack on Congress, yet the evidence of his having provided the anthrax in question is overwhelming. Ivins eventually went more or less insane, doubtless due to guilt at what he had done, and committed suicide when the investigation eventually swung back in his direction.

    Some years ago, a man named Ed Lake formulated the hypothesis that there were two parties, the "Supplier" (a government scientist with inside access, who provided the anthrax), and the "Agent," someone outside the government research establishment, who received the anthrax and used it. Ivins was the supplier, it seems. The Supplier-Agent hypothesis explains why Ivins became involved in drastic political terrorist actions which were out of character for him. Forget the FBI's silly suggestions about a persecution complex directed at a college sorority. Ivins handed over the anthrax, because someone gave him the right order, and probably did not tell him what was going to be done with the anthrax. The FBI is a prime suspect for having provided the Agent. It was very convenient for the FBI that Ivins committed suicide. He might otherwise have made a full confession in court, and named the agent. Ivins was a tormented man whom the government had tricked, Ender-Wiggins-fashion, into being a mass-murderer.

    Now, key portions of the USA Patriot Act are being nullified by advances in technology, notably in encryption and address cloaking. "The murderers among us" are being forced out into the open to defend their ill-gotten gains.

    James Comey, himself, was a senior official in the Bush Administration's Justice Department at the time that much of the anthrax investigation was taking place. He is not obviously unimplicated. At present, he is probably "carrying water" for FBI insiders who committed various crimes in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001. He must be made to testify before Congress about what he knew, and when he knew it.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Comey
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Hatfill
    http://en.wiki pedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Ivins

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 3:33pm

    Is this not the same person who while Acting Attorney General in 2004 refused to "certify" the legality of NSA wiretapping. Now he wants a backdoor for encryption to make it easier to spy on citezens...

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Oct 2014 @ 3:52pm

    Would any of us be surprised if we learned they did what they wanted anyways in open contempt of the legality of it.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Kronomex, 23 Oct 2014 @ 4:07pm

    Dodo (Raphus cucullatus): an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius.

    Democracy: an extinct ideal that was endemic to a fair proportion of the planet Earth.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Antidirt, 23 Oct 2014 @ 8:38pm

    (Parody)

    Congress didn't (literally) say 'bite us'. See how Techdirt twists everything in the worst possible light! And you claim to be pro journalistic integrity.

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    tqk (profile), 23 Oct 2014 @ 10:12pm

    ... this pushback has forced them to think on their feet -- something they're clearly not comfortable doing.

    I love how you write Tim. Were I Comey, I'd be worried, but he makes himself look more of an idiot with every statement he utters, yet he's oblivious to the effect.

    "I can lift 300 lbs. over my head, but nobody likes me?!?"

    [ link to this | view in chronology ]


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