Rep. Michael McCaul Proposes 'Commission' To 'Force' Silicon Valley To Undermine Encryption

from the well,-here-we-go... dept

Rep. Michael McCaul, the head of the House Homeland Security Committee has now given a speech in which he announced plans to introduce legislation that will create a committee to undermine encryption in the tech industry:
The legislation "would bring together the technology sector, privacy and civil liberties groups, academics, and the law enforcement community to find common ground," Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a Dec. 7 speech at National Defense University. "This will not be like other blue ribbon panels, established and forgotten."

He said the ability of terrorist groups to use encrypted applications while communicating is one of his biggest fears. "We cannot stop what we cannot see," he said in reference to recent attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., and Paris.
Yes, the idea that it will include technologists and privacy and civil liberties folks sounds good, but it still seems like the key focus is going to be around undermining encryption. You don't need a special commission to do the only thing you really need to do: which is to keep making ever more secure encryption. And, of course, McCaul has been among the leading voices in seeking to blame encryption for everything. A few weeks ago he insisted that the Paris attackers used encryption and in the Q&A portion after his speech yesterday he went even further directly claiming the Paris attackers used the Telegram app -- something that no one else has claimed to date. He first admits that a "backdoor" to encryption is a bad idea, but then basically says, "but there must be some technological solution" before claiming that the Paris attackers definitely used encryption.
It's a very complex issue. I think initially lawmakers thought there was an easy legislative fix where we just amend the CALEA statute, until we found out that providing a backdoor into everybody's iPhone was not going to be a very good strategy. Not only would it provide a backdoor for the government, but also for hackers. So you've noticed that the language of the FBI director and the language of the Secretary of Homeland Security has shifted to trying to find a technology solution to this problem.
This part is true, but that "shift" to finding a "technology solution" still involves creating backdoors to encryption -- and just not calling them backdoors. McCaul continues:
I will not tell you that it's an easy solution, but I've had very in-depth discussions that I do believe there are alternatives. There are some solutions to this problem. And I think the inherent problem, and the reason why I'm advocating the formation of this commission, is because of the reluctance of both parties to sit in the same room together. And so what this legislation provides -- in fact what it will mandate -- that all relevant parties sit in the same room together, and in a very short period of time, provide the Congress with solutions and recommendations for legislation to deal with what I consider to, as I said in my remarks, one of the most difficult challenges of this century, in dealing with counterterrorism and basically criminal behavior.
First of all this is hogwash. People from both sides are more than willing to sit together, if there was some possible productive outcome from it, and compelling them to sit in the same room doesn't change the facts that what they're asking for is impossible. I don't now how many times it needs to be said, but full encryption makes us all much safer, and you can't magically create a technology that "only the good people" can use. No one's demanding that law enforcement and gunmakers get together to create bullets that only hit bad people. And no one's demanding that automakers and law enforcement get together to design cars that only nice people can drive. Why do people magically think that Silicon Valley can determine who's good and who's bad and set up technology so that only nice people can have their privacy protected?

McCaul then continues, falsely claiming the Paris attackers used encryption:
If we don't do anything. Title III wiretaps and FISAs will become a thing of the past. When we saw the encrypted apps on the on the Paris attackers' iPhone - it was Telegram. When eight attackers and numerous co-conspirators, foreign fighters from Syria, can do something like that and it's completely under the radar screen. We know why it went undetected. It went undetected because they were communicating in the dark space. In a space where we can't shine a light on to see these communications even if we have a court order.
Of course, this is hogwash. No one else has claimed the Paris attackers used encryption. And in fact we now know that they communicated via unencrypted SMS and that they did a lot of their planning in plain sight, with the guy behind the plans bragging to an English-language ISIS publication about his plans, and the attackers booking hotels and guest houses in their own names.

Politico followed up with staffers on McCaul's committee to ask about this, and they admitted that McCaul was exaggerating -- saying he was talking "in general about terrorists' use of encryption" rather than specifically about the Paris attacks. Except, he said it pretty directly, which means he's either misinformed or lying. And, yet, now he's rushing to set up a special commission to help figure out a way to deal with this problem that he himself is exaggerating? That's not encouraging.

McCaul later went on to repeat the "this is a difficult problem" line which misses the point. It's not a difficult problem. It's not that smart people don't want to work on this, it's that law enforcement and McCaul are asking for the impossible: encryption that protects privacy, but only for good people. And, yet, he says he needs to "force people" to solve this problem (he literally uses the phrase "force them.")

While some have suggested that this commission could deal with many other issues unrelated to encryption (which could, potentially be a good thing), the timing of this, just as so many have been calling to undermine encryption by phrasing it as calling for "a conversation" between techies and law enforcement, combined with McCaul's incorrect statements on encryption is worrisome.

The only other "positive" in all of this is that he's pushing this commission as an alternative to legislation that would mandate encryption backdoors admitting (correctly) that "a legislative knee-jerk reaction could weaken Internet protections and privacy for everyday Americans...." That's absolutely true, but what, exactly, does he expect this new commission to do other than to undermine encryption and weaken those protections? And, as he made clear in his statements above, he's still expecting this commission to suggest a legislative solution in a fairly short time period. In other words, this may not be a "legislative knee-jerk" but it sure looks like a plan to lead to knee-jerk legislation, just one where McCaul can point to some committee's "recommendations" to cover up the fact that he's demanding the impossible.
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Filed Under: conversation, encryption, going dark, homeland security, michael mccaul, paris attacks, silicon valley


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  • icon
    That One Guy (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 7:51am

    "Here's the carrot. Yes it's rotten, but trust me, you DON'T want to see the stick."

    It may be getting into tin-foil hat territory, but I can't help but think that the 'commission' is expected to 'fail', at which point they throw up their hands, claim that since the tech companies stubbornly refuse to re-write reality that they're just going to have to force them to do so via laws.

    At this point they know that they're asking for the impossible, they're just trying to shift public opinion enough that they can force the tech companies to cripple encryption and make everyone less safe, and I imagine the 'commission' is nothing more than a bit of theater in that, designed ahead of time to 'fail' and hopefully make it looks like the tech companies, rather than the government and police, are the ones being unreasonable.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    steell (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 9:48am

    Is this a cut and paste from another article? Or are many now using the word "site" when they actually mean "sight"?

    I read an article the other day on the same subject that also used the word "site". Makes me a little suspicious.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 9:53am

    The Trurl's machine.

    Those pesky tech people and academics insist, that 2 * 2 is 4. We would like 7 much more - let's meet and find a common ground.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:02am

      Re: The Trurl's machine.

      Well, one potential positive of this, if they find REAL representatives of all sides willing to be part of this, is that everyone can sit down in a less-politicized arena, put everything on the table, and have law enforcement and congress go: "... Oh. Right. Well at least now we've settled it."

      Then Congress can trumpet that they tried every avenue, and encryption is the best way to keep people safe, and some alternatives that actually work can be trumpeted by law enforcement, and everyone else goes home feeling a bit safer.

      Not saying this will happen, but at least it's a possibility.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 5:16am

        Re: Re: The Trurl's machine.

        so, you are already discarding TORTURE as part of this conversation?
        why?

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 11:41am

        Re: Re: The Trurl's machine.

        Making 2*2=7 by exhausting the opponents, more likely.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:08am

      Re: The Trurl's machine.

      Square the circle, write it into law that pi = 3.
      - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Pi_Bill

      This is what happens when you fail rudimentary mathematics.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 9:57am

    If an key can be copied from a photograph for TSA approved suitcase luggage locks, what is to stop the master key from leaking for the back door on encryption? In the end, the door is left wide open for anyone... good, curious or evil.

    E-Commerce, banking, ETC would be left wide open. Lets see how well that works out.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:12am

      Re:

      And they want the consumer to be held responsible for "identity theft".

      The actual crime is that of fraud and it is perpetrated upon the businesses not the consumer. This is simple fact and yet they attempt to hold others responsible for their own lack of security and utter contempt for anything but themselves.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:04am

    Just what the hell is going on with congress? It just doesn't matter how many times they try to dress this up, change its name or appearance ... trying to ban or restrict Silicon Valley from implementing encryption in their devices is simply beyond the purview of congress' powers. It would be the same as if congress tried to ban or restrict smartphones or media players from the ability to transfer audio or video to those devices.

    Democrats and Republicans have all lost their minds and there is no way that such a resolution or law could ever withstand a court challenge, even if by some miracle they managed to squeeze this through both chambers of congress.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 5:22am

      Re:

      "Just what the hell is going on with congress?"
      well they are just doing their jobs;
      to control the sheeple via violence and taxation

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:05am

    > but full encryption makes us all much safer

    If, tomorrow, landline telephone calls were suddenly strongly encrypted and police with a warrant couldn't listen in, would we be instantly safer? I'm pretty sure that tapping phone conversations has been used effectively in the past and I don't hear a lot of people bemoaning the fact that our easily intercepted telephone system is harming people daily.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      orbitalinsertion (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:15am

      Re:

      Why, what planet have you been on where they don't vacuum up all the calls and metadata? Maybe you missed when they retroactively legalized the compliance of the telcos with the government, or the yet ongoing lawsuits.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:14am

        Re: Re:

        I thought ex post facto laws were not allowed.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          That One Guy (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 7:24pm

          Re: Re: Re:

          Funny thing, but when the ones who write the laws see no problem breaking them, and the ones who enforce the laws see no problem breaking them and/or looking the other way when others do, the laws become pretty much meaningless, and both groups feel free to do whatever they want.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 5:24am

          Re: Re: Re:

          maybe you thought ass raping the bill of rights was also not allowed?

          well...

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:22am

      Re:

      There's a reason most banks refuse to deal with account information over telephones. Also why most hospitals won't give out personal information over the phone. Also why you probably shouldn't give your SSN over a phone. You just described exactly why.

      So yes, we would be instantly safer, just in a different way than you describe. A way that would affect a significantly larger portion of people than your scenario.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:25am

        Re: Re:

        There is a reason they won't deal with account information over the telephone - authentication. It has nothing to do with encryption. If they do give you account information, it will only be after you've had to answer a whole bunch of questions that hopefully only you would know the answer to.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:43am

          Re: Re: Re:

          That tactic also informs any listener of the questions and answers required to impersonate the customer in the future.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

          • identicon
            Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 2:04pm

            Re: Re: Re: Re:

            And how big of a problem is that? I'm guessing the dollar value of problems created by bogus phone taps is pretty tiny compared to the law enforcement value of legitimate taps.

            link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:28am

      Re:

      Landline telephone calls don't have and keep everything about you, including your bank data, what do like, what you do, where are you, where have you been... it isn't only the present, but a lot of your past is on the internet too.

      Landline telephones don't have the ability to control things remotely, or won't be used to make cars by themselves (as they are already testing).

      This isn't like 20 years ago. Hack someone's computer, email and social networks and you get a lot of shit about him that can fuck his life forever.


      And even if there isn't that shit in it, you even have the ability to create it, and fuck him forever.


      Internet stopped being part of some sort of harmless virtual world and is part of our everyday lives now. Either we start taking things seriously, or the mess will be monumental.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:14am

        Re: Re:

        Landline telephone calls don't have and keep everything about you, including your bank data, what do like, what you do, where are you, where have you been... it isn't only the present, but a lot of your past is on the internet too.

        Landline telephones don't have the ability to control things remotely, or won't be used to make cars by themselves (as they are already testing).

        This isn't like 20 years ago. Hack someone's computer, email and social networks and you get a lot of shit about him that can fuck his life forever.


        Ever seen a hacking movie from the '80s or '90s? It's not that telephone calls themselves keep information about you, it's that the telcos keep logs of the routing data, and anyone can listen in on the line during the call and record what they hear. Furthermore, TO THIS DAY modems are hooked up to landlines that don't verify the user who is calling in, or verify that they're the only one on the line. It's somewhat trivial to monitor a phone call being made to, say, a hydroelectric dam gate sensor, then drop the caller part way through and pick up the communication where they left off (after the password was sent for verification).

        The fact that nobody's bothered to do this is a different issue: the Internet just makes things so much more convenient by providing one packet to rule them all: you don't need specialized tools and knowledge if everything is speaking the same language over the same lines.

        Ironically, the Internet has consolidated our data and data control/transmission mechanisms into a one-stop-shop for both law enforcement and terrorists. There is no more physical segregation of data.

        And that, of course means that physical segregation will no longer prevent against abuse of that data, which is why encryption is absolutely necessary, despite the negative impact it has on those who want to do good with (legally or illegally) pilfered data.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 2:18am

      Re:

      sheep or shillbot?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:14am

    If Silicon Valley were to make a magic backdoor that only opened for the good guys with pure intentions, the government wouldn't be able to access it anyway, so I'm not sure why they're pushing for it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    orbitalinsertion (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:17am

    The best bit is they would have to actually be paying attention to The Terrorists, using encrypted communications or not. Which they weren't.

    So what is their point again?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Max (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:18am

    Okay, new proposal:

    How about mandating that anyone wishing to discuss cryptography in a legislative context MUST first complete a "stop the tide by shouting at it" exercise...?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ECA (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:18am

    LOTS OF MONEY GOING NOWHERE

    I really wonder about people sometimes..
    There is NO MAGIC KEY to encryption.
    You dont need hardware to make it.
    You dont need software to make it..
    the only use of Software/hardware is making it easier, faster to transmit.
    And if you GUT it out of the hardware, computers cellphones, and all the rest, they can make up their OWN software to do it...if they want.
    But if you REALLY want down and dirty...DONT encrypt it..Even if the NSA scans all the signals and collects all the Forms/fashions of communication...It will take DAYS/MONTHS/YEARS to weed thru it all, to find the 1 communication you wanted...AFTER THE FACT.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:19am

    Hey, this is better than giving terrorists drones so that they can remotely attack us.

    They will move to encrypted networks (as if you could prevent that, lol) while on our "enlightened" networks, they will find the backdoor to fuck us like:

    - Messing with your bank account: lots of illegal purchases and maybe stealing your money. Sure, banks themselves might keep that encryption, but nobody talked about that iPhone that is also used as an electronic wallet or that computer that you use to check your accounts online.

    - Messing with your private information to blackmail you. No need to say much about this, do I? Emails have a lot of things in them and maybe they got what you need to make that guy do what you want, or look the other way...

    - Kids. This is an important point and one that should be stretched: people tend to share pics of their family (or of sports events or whatever, like many schools do), pics that potentially, could be fap material for pedophiles if found out. You just now have put the kids of all the country in a silver platter, because now, most social networks would be ripe for them to farm pics.

    - Important services: dams, traffic, electric networks... Sure, some might be hard to attack (I hope that you aren't idiot enough to force shitty encryption on a dam, but you never know), but traffic might be not that secure (and you never know what you can do with the credentials taken from someone's mobile phone or computer, like 1234 passwords...). Imagine what a terrorist might do if suddenly, he could control the traffic lights of an important city in a rush hour for just 10 seconds... the potential mess might leave Paris strikes as purely anecdotical.

    Terrorism? No need to do that. Now they get cyberterrorism! And without having to spend a single penny.

    I bet that Ali the Terrorist is already celebrating this with champagne. Even if he shouldn't drink it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:28am

    What would happen if Silicon Valley made a special backdoor encryption for payments made to politicians and then accidentally leaked the golden key onto the internet?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    wiserabbit, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:29am

    3 year olds

    Silicon Valley and a whole heck of a lot of folks have already had the conversation with pretty much everyone in Washington. Just because the federal government is acting like a bunch of three-year-olds thinking that if they ask the same question a quadrillion, they'll get a different answer doesn't actually negate the fact that the conversation has already taken place.

    If they're going to act like three-year-olds, then let's start treating them like three-year-olds. Ok, we'll put back doors in every facet of the government's systems. Period.

    Or do they also believe that every time a three-year-old sticks a fork in a light socket, the entire population of the entire planet should get zapped?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:10am

      Re: 3 year olds

      "acting like a bunch of three-year-olds thinking that if they ask the same question a quadrillion, they'll get a different answer "

      They're not talking to the technically literate, by design.

      Every Congress critter has to line up for airtime to remind their voters that they are:

      1/ Doing Something Very Important and Serious

      2/ Being Somebody Very Important and Serious

      3/ On Top Of The Very Serious Issue

      4/ On Top Of The Very Serious Crisis Of The Day-Century-Forever

      5/ Not Let "Them" Get Away With Anything

      6/ Awake

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:17am

        Re: Re: 3 year olds

        ...all the while not actually producing anything of value.

        The recently passed transportation bill is the first productive thing I've seen from Congress in awhile.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:29am

    Dear McCaul,

    What you want is mathematically impossible.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      shanen (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 4:36pm

      Re: Mathematically impossible?

      Ha! You haven't seen how well he gerrymandered his own district. Considering his own incompetence and stupidity, he must be some kind of idiot savant genius at rigging elections.

      And you thought elections were about voters picking politicians, didn't you? It's the OTHER way around, with phools like McCaul picking their voters first!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:36am

    Reasons for why not

    Anybody know if there's a good write-up somewhere outlining in more detail all or most of the reasons (along with explanations) why undermining encryption is a bad idea?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Zem, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:50am

    Next they will be demanding google earth show the world as flat.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Trails (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:54am

    Even if they pull it off

    it won't work.

    Strong encryption is out of the bag, and short of major evolutions in quantum computing or solving the whole P vs NP thing, there's no getting around it.

    The oldies have (re)fallen into the trap of thinking technology comes from a place invented by a guy named "Head of Technology". Technology is sometimes messy and organic in its evolution, it defies control.

    Even if they get Apple and Google and Microsoft and, and, and to backdoor encryption, the motivated will use (and evolve) OSS crypto tools, and the motivated include the bad guys. Those "common folk" not skilled enough to leverage this will be left with their asses in the wind.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 5:32am

      Re: Even if they pull it off

      "STRONG encrpytion" why are you helping their weak/strong fallacy???

      by strong encryption they mean: not backdoored by us

      and by weak encryption the mean: totally backdoored

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    David, 8 Dec 2015 @ 10:54am

    Let's kill the US tech industry.

    That's what this will do. Any 'magic key' encryption that's developed in the US will ONLY be bought by US companies if they are required by law to buy it. No foreign company will purchase the products, since it would undermine their best interests, and will buy non-US products instead. Anyone coming into the country to do nefarious deeds will not use the US-only encryption.

    The only purpose of this is to spy on American Citizens. Just like in the movie Sneakers.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:04am

    The legislation "would bring together the technology sector, privacy and civil liberties groups, academics, and the law enforcement community to find common ground," Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a Dec. 7 speech at National Defense University.
    Chairman McCaul continued "If the former refuse to compromise encryption, they will be shot in the head by the latter. A new group of techies and civil libertarians will then be brought in, shown the bodies, and given the same challenge. This will continue as long as necessary, and eventually all the smart people will be dead and and then someone'll give us what we want."

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:08am

    Oh the irony....

    Rep. Michael McCaul says "we can't stop what we can't see".
    I wonder if 'breaking encryption' applies to his laptop containing a VAST amount of illegal pornography?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:22am

    It looks like it is time to clean house of all the incumbents and attempt to get candidates that actually understand the technology they are attempting to make laws about. All this FUD has warped any sign of commonsense out of Washington.

    On one hand they scream about being hacked because their databases are open to be read and on the other hand scream about the one thing that could save them the indignity.

    It's time for some serious spring cleaning in the political houses as well as in government employment.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Brent Ashley (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:22am

    Process flow

    Ok, so assuming they succeed and the govt has back-door keys for all SSL traffic, for instance. Now they have to not only do deep-packet-inspection, but decryption too. They now have the "clear" stream, but maybe the payload is wrapped with another level of end-to-end encryption. Even if that is also back-doored, it needs decrypting, only to find another layer, and another, and the final payload maybe contains steganography and other methods. Where does it stop? (hint: it doesn't). Right, so they have determined that there is some random-looking data I have sent. What if I want to send a megabyte of random/entropy bytes to someone? Will I be branded a criminal?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:39am

      Re: Process flow

      "What if I want to send a megabyte of random/entropy bytes to someone? Will I be branded a criminal?"

      You have to ask?

      Given sufficient malice (did I mean incompetence?) any string of random bytes can be carefully decoded, in the right light, on a day with a y in the name and a year with 4 digits, as a SyNNIshTARr!-!misPeldedumled!,.b)(ignore 31673 bytes because we say so)EtErrorrysTpLotke*!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 5:37am

      Re: Process flow

      YES, you are a criminal: EVERYBODY is.
      we just need to scan your 40 years of data and WE WILL find something to jail you.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:25am

    Hard Work Ahead

    Everybody has this wrong, wrong, wrong. It's not about creating a backdoor, it's about getting whom they call terrorists to THINK there is a backdoor so they won't use encryption.

    Now reasonable people already know that at least in the Paris attacks encryption was not used (at least none found yet and plenty of unencrypted leads available) but the money hasn't been spent on creating an imaginary backdoor to fool them thar terrorists into believing that encryption is compromised and should not be used. If the money isn't spent, then there is no possible way that any backdoor could be created, imaginary or not. If enough money is spent the backdoor created can be imagined to be bigger, better, faster, and more far reaching. If you are looking right at the backdoor and can't see the backdoor, you just aren't imagining hard enough, or haven't been paid enough, whichever fits the current need.

    I know, imagineering can be tough, which is why only Disney has succeeded at it so far, but with enough money, and little effort along with some group imagining from Congress, it can be accomplished. Think about it, back in the '70's Disney imagined a world where IP was meant to be purchased and repurchased and repurchased ad infinitum and here we are 40 or so short years later and they have almost achieved their goal. See, imagineering works.

    So if there is a failure in achieving a backdoor it will be the fault of a lack of imagination, or a lack of faith that a backdoor can be imagined into reality, or not enough money spent in Silicon Valley to get them to drink the correct brand of cool-aid and imagine job accomplished.

    Oh, and at the same time getting people to recognize only government approved terrorists which are the ones that exist because government says they do and not because government looked in a mirror. Imagine Up people!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:26am

    The problem with encryption that the good guys can use to stay private but the bad guys can't isn't the encryption, it's that we can't always tell the good guys from the bad guys. Once you take the good/bad part of that out then you just have encryption that can be broken by other people, which isn't very useful.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:32am

    Phrasing

    What the politicians are saying: "We want a technology solution to this problem"...
    What I hear is: "we want a problem for this technology solution"...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 8 Dec 2015 @ 11:49am

    “No one's demanding that law enforcement and gunmakers get together to create bullets that only hit bad people.”

    But isn’t that the argument of the gun-lovers, that their bullets are only for use against bad people? You mean they tend to hurt good people far more than they hurt bad people?

    I’m shocked—shocked, I tell you! Say it isn’t so!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 5:54am

      Re: “No one's demanding that law enforcement and gunmakers get together to create bullets that only hit bad people.”

      "isn’t that the argument of the gun-lovers?"

      NO, it is not the argument of our "gun loving" FOUNDING FATHER... you should already know that.
      but if YOU want to renounce the constitutional right to shoot back at the government, you are free to do so.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 9 Dec 2015 @ 8:28pm

        Re: constitutional right to shoot back at the government

        Have you tried exercising that right lately?

        The last 10,000 or so people who tried all got shot. And nobody saw it as a violation of their “rights”.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Almost Anonymous (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 12:02pm

    Compromise

    He said the ability of terrorist groups to use encrypted applications while communicating is one of his biggest fears. "We cannot stop what we cannot see," he said in reference to recent attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., and Paris.
    Let's make a deal, Rep. Michael McCaul. Since we now know that none of the largely publicized terrorist attacks used encryption in any meaningful way, why don't you stop what you fucking well CAN see before you start fighting shadows? When you're able to stop terrorist attacks that don't use encryption on a reliable basis, then we'll revisit the subject of encryption, ok?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Mark Wing, 8 Dec 2015 @ 12:31pm

    We should call them "freedom doors" because only terrorists use encryption.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Adrian Lopez, 8 Dec 2015 @ 1:10pm

    Common Ground

    The "common ground" solution sought by Rep. McCaul simply does not exist: https://twitter.com/PaladinZilch/status/674315693030948865

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    ECA (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 1:13pm

    NOW

    If we could get our GOV. to release all their SECRET stashes..
    Stuff hidden away for 20-40 years..that even a FOIA form cant get..

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    jilocasin (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 1:44pm

    Rep. Michael McCaul is a genius...

    Rep. Michael McCaul is a genius, all we need to do to accomplish the impossible is to bring together a disparate group of people into the same room. Just think of all the things that are now possible:

    • perpetual motion machines

    • limitless clean free energy

    • software without bugs

    • gravity that falls up

    • healthy junk food

    • painless way to reverse climate change

    • an end to poverty

    • and end to disease

    • eternal youthful life


    It's just a matter of finding the right group of people to put together in the same room.

    Although I think even the good 'ol McCaul would be unable to;

    • find an honest politician

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    shanen (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 4:30pm

    McCaul is a worthless TOOL and a coward, too

    I don't actually want to claim to be brave, though I have done a few things that might have looked that way, and even come close to death a few times--but I shure (sic) know a yellow-belly coward when I sneeze at one, and I sneeze at McCaul, my very own fake representative to Congress. None of the comments nor the article mentioned gerrymandering, but that's the ONLY way this worthless tool could have been elected to the House of so-called Representatives.

    McCaul's district was created for him in a massive gerrymandering about 12 years ago, but he is such a worthless piece of garbage that they had to repack it again a few years ago. He does NOT represent Austin, which is supposed to be the largest city in the country without a SINGLE actual Representative in the House. Neo-GOP partisan dictatorship at its worst.

    (I should retract that statement, because whenever you say it's the worst, they go farther. Most recently, my own vote was disenfranchised by the new voter ID system created to solve the fake and nonexistent problem of voter fraud. Disenfranchising large numbers of voters certainly WILL influence actual elections, while a few double voters never could. If there were many fake voters, then the odds of getting exposed and arrested would rise rapidly. NO such problem.)

    Never heard McCaul say anything that wasn't worthless or cowardly or both. He even contributed in his own typically minor way to my renunciation of my birthright Texian citizenship. I now regard myself as a stateless American.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Personanongrata, 8 Dec 2015 @ 5:07pm

    Defective Group Think on Capitol Hill

    Why do people magically think that Silicon Valley can determine who's good and who's bad and set up technology so that only nice people can have their privacy protected?


    Because these people are cretins and they believe in unicorns.

    Maybe when Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) is finished chasing unicorns he would be so good as to convene a 'Commission' To 'Force' the US government to obey the US Constitution?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Wyrm (profile), 8 Dec 2015 @ 6:01pm

    Blind man complaining that the light is off...

    "We cannot stop what we cannot see,"
    True enough, particularly when you already can't stop what you can see.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 6:16pm

    And they wonder why the enemy is "radicalizing" young Americans by the boat load. The Patriot Act did everything but pull down our pants and sodomize us. And realizing we have the enemy in high places in the halls of our government is even more terrifying than any thing the jihad or caliphate have done.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2015 @ 6:51pm

    Time for Americans to get the fuck off their ass's and vote all the fuckers out of office once and for all , Or then just shut the fuck up and enjoy their ass fucking

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 2:29am

    oh YES,
    we will make a commission to torture John Galt until he fixes the Us economy...

    (damn I have to read atlas shrugged again)

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 5:09am

    If apple and google allows the sheeple to install
    Telegram so easy (without jailbrake/root)
    then it must be compromised,
    otherwise Telegram would get the lavabit treatment

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2015 @ 9:40am

    2 + 2 is not equal to 5, breaking encryption will not make us safer.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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