It's not just the DOJ. It's every other government agency in every other country that will demand the backdoor. And make no mistake; it the US government has a backdoor, other governments will demand it too.
Consider the Stinger cell phone mass surveillance devices, intended for intelligence and anti-terrorism work. Now more than a dozen federal agencies have them. And many state and local police forces in the US in Canada, Britain and elsewhere. There's a large list of private companies who will sell them to any totalitarian government who wants them.
You won't just have to trust the DOJ; you'll have to trust ALL of the other agencies in ALL the other countries to keep that backdoor password a secret.
Re: Re: Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Oct 15th, 2017 @ 1:44pm
No, there's a history here. No matter how wrong Trumps actions, someone will come along and make an "Obama did it too" claim.
Often the claim has no credibility. Or they're blaming Obama for something enacted long before he entered the White House.
Often too it's a credible claim, but with the accusation that Techdirt ignored it. In reality Techdirt will have been highlighting and criticizing it all along.
This is exactly why I'm a fan of astronomer Francesco Sizi, a contemporary of Galileo who argued that Jupiter can have no satellites:
There are seven windows in the head, two nostrils, two ears, two eyes, and a mouth; so in the heavens there are two favorable stars, two unpropitious, two luminaries, and Mercury alone undecided and indifferent. From which and many other similar phenomena of nature such as the seven metals, etc., which it were tedious to enumerate, we gather that the number of planets is necessarily seven. [...]
Moreover, the satellites are invisible to the naked eye and therefore can have no influence on the earth and therefore would be useless and therefore do not exist.
No need to take anything at face value. (Other than the value "seven" derived from your face.) Just clear reasoning based on existing proven facts.
OK... I checked again. You enter your FaceBook credentials into the Ricoh Windows app. But, it looks like they're hosting a browser window within the app showing the FaceBook login screen.
The public approval needed to win a Presidential election might have something to do with it.
No matter how bad Trump is - including being a "walking, tweeting harassment and 'hateful conduct' machine" - he's *entirely* consistent with how he acted before the election. There have been no surprises. Nothing unpredicted, nothing that wasn't completely obvious long before the election.
He has exactly the same demeanor, intelligence, maturity and dignity that led the Republican Party to declare him their best possible choice for the job. The same that won the election.
While I and others are horrified, the country made its decision fully informed. Who is Twitter to disagree?
EVERY government will demand a copy of the keys. Then every branch - FBI, CIA, NSA, TSA, FDA etc... and their counterparts in every government. You can bet that the NYPD and City of London Police will demand them too.
Think of the StingRay cellphone surveillance devices. Originally for counter-terrorism and national security users. Now operated in the US alone by over a dozen federal departments and in widespread use by state and local police. And by local police forces in other countries including Canada and the UK. With 12 private companies in the UK alone exporting them Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Turkey and elsewhere.
Companies that know their shit don't hold the keys so when things leak the only ones at risk are users that do security wrong...
Create a corporate web site or app these days with ASP.NET, and Microsoft wants you to use OAuth to authenticate users. "They'll be logged in automatically if they're already logged into FaceBook or Twitter! Account information is automatically shared with other sites!" They even removed the old authentication tools from Visual Studio to force developers in this direction.
I just picked up a spherical image camera. Ricoh will host those images for you, complete with scripting and other technologies that will let the viewer pan around the images with their mobile and desktop browsers.
But to create and log into your account, you MUST use a FaceBook or Twitter account. And hand over your login credentials to Ricoh.
It's as though the industry has looked at security breaches from Target to Equifax and asked, "How can we top that?"
Likewise your ISP's logs will at least show you connecting to a VPN service or TOR.
There was a story a couple years back where a university student used TOR to email a bomb threat to cancel an exam. The university checked their logs, and only one person on campus was using TOR. He was arrested.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How were the people down in that plaza made safer by being completely helpless?
"There’s no discernible pattern among those cities, nor clear or convincing evidence in these statistics that shows more gun laws lead to more or less gun crime."
Again, nonsense. ALL the cities listed are in the same country, where guns can flow freely from one city to another. Chicago's stricter laws are in response to a very high gun crime rate, not the other way 'round.
Comparing cities that aren't in the same gun market, and you get different results. Canada's capital city of Ottawa had 16 murders in 2007, and Washington, D.C., which has roughly the same population, had 195 murders.
Handguns are available for self protection in Seattle, but not in nearby Vancouver, Canada; handgun killings are five times more common and the handgun suicide rate is ten times greater in Seattle. Guns make impulsive killing easy.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How were the people down in that plaza made safer by being completely helpless?
Guns have near ZERO impact on the murder rate. You take guns away people get run over, stabbed, bludgeoned, or poisoned to death instead.
This is of course, utter nonsense.
Yes, the other things happen. They happen even in America WITH guns. But America's murder rate is so much higher because of gun violence.
Shootings by children are a daily occurrence in America. You could cut back on that with some laws and penalties enforcing responsible gun ownership. Much like laws and penalties cut back drunk driving deaths in the late '60s and early '70s, without taking away everyone's alcohol.
And no, stabbings and poisonings by children will not increase to fill the void. Nor would most mass shooting death tolls be anywhere near as high if the shooter used a gun instead.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How were the people down in that plaza made safer by being completely helpless?
When you let a small minority of nutjobs to ban laws promoting common-sense in gun ownership and even ban research into gun violence, you've given up liberty. When it becomes prudent to avoid crowds and neighborhoods because of gun violence, you've given up liberty.
Most western democracies have the same level of liberty WITHOUT even remotely the same level of gun violence. For all the "Obama gonna take away your guns" grandstanding the Republicans do to rally the ammosexuals, even they understand this. Which is why CPAC and Republican conventions don't allow guns.
Re: Re: Re: How were the people down in that plaza made safer by being completely helpless?
No-one made that assumption.
Different circumstances might have yielded different results. But in this case it IS the case, over 50 people at dead, and having every last one of them fully armed and trained and ready to return fire would have made no difference. There was a well-known and well-armed gun advocate in the crowd recording himself, and it made no difference.
Sure, a one-on-one encounter could be different, but even then only sometimes. Consider the Oregon 'open carry' advocate who was robbed of his handgun at gunpoint back in 2014, while exercising his 'open carry' right. The thief apparently made off with the man’s entire argument.
Re: Re: Cracking Down On Guns Would Certainly Help
America's sea of guns didn't happen overnight. It took generations. No-one is saying that buying back guns will solve the problem overnight. But you have to start somewhere.
Consider the Phoenix man who posted pictures on Facebook giving his guns over to local police this week, after the more publicized of the mass shootings last Sunday. (He received multiple death threats after the post went viral. First rule of gun club: you’re not allowed to leave gun club.) Those guns will be back on the street, thanks to an Arizona law forcing local police departments to resell turned-in firearms instead of destroying them.
But understand, most people who want gun control don't want to take away most guns or even buy them back. They just want them kept out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill - something the NRA and Republicans used to call for, but started opposing when Democrats called for it. They want military weapons, assault rifles, off the street. Again, something Republicans used to call for, but started opposing when Democrats called for it.
And perhaps some laws to make gun owners take responsibility. Shootings by children now happen in America on average more than once a week, for example. In the late '60s / early '70s America managed to significantly lower drunk driving fatalities by raising penalties and enforcing them. WITHOUT taking away everyone's alcohol.
If you're crossing the nation in a covered wagon, it's better to have four strong oxen than 100 chickens. Chickens are OK but we can't make them work together yet.
Ross Bott, Pyramid U.S., on multiprocessors at AUUGM '89.
Multiple cores and multi-threaded software are now the norm. We've gotten really good at making those chickens work together.
On the post: DOJ Continues Its Push For Encryption Backdoors With Even Worse Arguments
Re:
It's not just the DOJ. It's every other government agency in every other country that will demand the backdoor. And make no mistake; it the US government has a backdoor, other governments will demand it too.
Consider the Stinger cell phone mass surveillance devices, intended for intelligence and anti-terrorism work. Now more than a dozen federal agencies have them. And many state and local police forces in the US in Canada, Britain and elsewhere. There's a large list of private companies who will sell them to any totalitarian government who wants them.
You won't just have to trust the DOJ; you'll have to trust ALL of the other agencies in ALL the other countries to keep that backdoor password a secret.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: Response to: Anonymous Coward on Oct 15th, 2017 @ 1:44pm
Often the claim has no credibility. Or they're blaming Obama for something enacted long before he entered the White House.
Often too it's a credible claim, but with the accusation that Techdirt ignored it. In reality Techdirt will have been highlighting and criticizing it all along.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: Re: Hitchen's Razor
This is exactly why I'm a fan of astronomer Francesco Sizi, a contemporary of Galileo who argued that Jupiter can have no satellites:
No need to take anything at face value. (Other than the value "seven" derived from your face.) Just clear reasoning based on existing proven facts.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re:
On the post: Trump May Not Be Serious About His NBC Threats... But He May Have Violated The First Amendment
On the post: Investment Fund Manager Tries To Bury Past Screwups With Sketchy Libel Suit Court Order
Second-Order Streisand Effect
I don't know what "Richard" said that made Jordan Wirsz allege defamation, but given the fraudulent take-downs I have to assume it was true.
On the post: Court To Guy Who Sued News Stations Over His Facebook Live Video: Pay Their Legal Fees... And Maybe Sue Your Lawyers
Re:
It would certainly make it Harder for them.
On the post: New 'Coalition For Responsible Sharing' About To Send Millions Of Take-Down Notices To Stop Researchers Sharing Their Own Papers
Re:
On the post: Deputy AG Pitches New Form Of Backdoor: 'Responsible Encryption'
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Twitter Temporarily Blocks Campaign Ad... Getting It Much More Attention
Re: Pick and Choose
No matter how bad Trump is - including being a "walking, tweeting harassment and 'hateful conduct' machine" - he's *entirely* consistent with how he acted before the election. There have been no surprises. Nothing unpredicted, nothing that wasn't completely obvious long before the election.
He has exactly the same demeanor, intelligence, maturity and dignity that led the Republican Party to declare him their best possible choice for the job. The same that won the election.
While I and others are horrified, the country made its decision fully informed. Who is Twitter to disagree?
On the post: Deputy AG Pitches New Form Of Backdoor: 'Responsible Encryption'
Sure! Right after you demonstrate 'Responsible Government.'
On the post: Deputy AG Pitches New Form Of Backdoor: 'Responsible Encryption'
Re: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Think of the StingRay cellphone surveillance devices. Originally for counter-terrorism and national security users. Now operated in the US alone by over a dozen federal departments and in widespread use by state and local police. And by local police forces in other countries including Canada and the UK. With 12 private companies in the UK alone exporting them Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Turkey and elsewhere.
Those keys will be shared far and wide.
On the post: Deputy AG Pitches New Form Of Backdoor: 'Responsible Encryption'
Re:
Create a corporate web site or app these days with ASP.NET, and Microsoft wants you to use OAuth to authenticate users. "They'll be logged in automatically if they're already logged into FaceBook or Twitter! Account information is automatically shared with other sites!" They even removed the old authentication tools from Visual Studio to force developers in this direction.
I just picked up a spherical image camera. Ricoh will host those images for you, complete with scripting and other technologies that will let the viewer pan around the images with their mobile and desktop browsers.
But to create and log into your account, you MUST use a FaceBook or Twitter account. And hand over your login credentials to Ricoh.
It's as though the industry has looked at security breaches from Target to Equifax and asked, "How can we top that?"
On the post: Cyberstalking Case Highlights How VPN Provider Claims About Not Keeping Logs Are Often False
Re: Re:
There was a story a couple years back where a university student used TOR to email a bomb threat to cancel an exam. The university checked their logs, and only one person on campus was using TOR. He was arrested.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How were the people down in that plaza made safer by being completely helpless?
Again, nonsense. ALL the cities listed are in the same country, where guns can flow freely from one city to another. Chicago's stricter laws are in response to a very high gun crime rate, not the other way 'round.
Comparing cities that aren't in the same gun market, and you get different results. Canada's capital city of Ottawa had 16 murders in 2007, and Washington, D.C., which has roughly the same population, had 195 murders.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How were the people down in that plaza made safer by being completely helpless?
This is of course, utter nonsense.
Yes, the other things happen. They happen even in America WITH guns. But America's murder rate is so much higher because of gun violence.
Shootings by children are a daily occurrence in America. You could cut back on that with some laws and penalties enforcing responsible gun ownership. Much like laws and penalties cut back drunk driving deaths in the late '60s and early '70s, without taking away everyone's alcohol.
And no, stabbings and poisonings by children will not increase to fill the void. Nor would most mass shooting death tolls be anywhere near as high if the shooter used a gun instead.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How were the people down in that plaza made safer by being completely helpless?
Most western democracies have the same level of liberty WITHOUT even remotely the same level of gun violence. For all the "Obama gonna take away your guns" grandstanding the Republicans do to rally the ammosexuals, even they understand this. Which is why CPAC and Republican conventions don't allow guns.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: How were the people down in that plaza made safer by being completely helpless?
No-one made that assumption.
Different circumstances might have yielded different results. But in this case it IS the case, over 50 people at dead, and having every last one of them fully armed and trained and ready to return fire would have made no difference. There was a well-known and well-armed gun advocate in the crowd recording himself, and it made no difference.
Sure, a one-on-one encounter could be different, but even then only sometimes. Consider the Oregon 'open carry' advocate who was robbed of his handgun at gunpoint back in 2014, while exercising his 'open carry' right. The thief apparently made off with the man’s entire argument.
On the post: The Vegas Shooting Makes It Clear More Surveillance Isn't The Answer
Re: Re: Cracking Down On Guns Would Certainly Help
Consider the Phoenix man who posted pictures on Facebook giving his guns over to local police this week, after the more publicized of the mass shootings last Sunday. (He received multiple death threats after the post went viral. First rule of gun club: you’re not allowed to leave gun club.) Those guns will be back on the street, thanks to an Arizona law forcing local police departments to resell turned-in firearms instead of destroying them.
But understand, most people who want gun control don't want to take away most guns or even buy them back. They just want them kept out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill - something the NRA and Republicans used to call for, but started opposing when Democrats called for it. They want military weapons, assault rifles, off the street. Again, something Republicans used to call for, but started opposing when Democrats called for it.
And perhaps some laws to make gun owners take responsibility. Shootings by children now happen in America on average more than once a week, for example. In the late '60s / early '70s America managed to significantly lower drunk driving fatalities by raising penalties and enforcing them. WITHOUT taking away everyone's alcohol.
On the post: This Week In Techdirt History: October 1st - 7th
Re: Re: Twenty years ago
Synchronized chickens.
Multiple cores and multi-threaded software are now the norm. We've gotten really good at making those chickens work together.
Next >>