David Cameron is going to try and ban encryption in Britain

aayzof said:
I don't understand why so many people are so terrified that they're being monitored. I think it stems from a lack of understanding, which is sad - people seem to think that because bulk information is collected, this means someone is actively monitoring everything they're doing. Paranoia is such a horrible thing. :(
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It's nothing to do with paranoia. Nor is it the fear of active monitoring, because as those in favour argue, if you've done nothing wrong then you have nothing to hide and nothing to worry about.

What's wrong with this statement is that not doing anything wrong does not mean you shouldn't have anything to hide. Knowing that there's even a possibility that your actions could be observed affects free behaviour. The worst thing about this is people don't recognise this. You take your behaviour for granted. You would never suspect someone is counting how many times you flush your toilet, or that someone cares about what CD you just bought on Amazon, or what you've just Googled, where your car was last MOT'd, what you've been texting etc etc etc. But if that was a possibility (which it already is to a degree), one's behaviour would subconsciously change.
 
smoove said:
Do you want your entire life recorded in someway? Can you not see how different that would make you behave, if every possible phone call, purchase, text, email, conversation in the home was recorded and could be recalled at any time for any reason? And it will get worse as technology progresses, with tvs in the home having built in microphones now that ship your conversations off to third parties without you knowing about. Are you that naive that things like this arent open to abuse?

Do you believe that this will have many benefits to your life?
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aayzof said:
I don't understand why so many people are so terrified that they're being monitored. I think it stems from a lack of understanding, which is sad - people seem to think that because bulk information is collected, this means someone is actively monitoring everything they're doing. Paranoia is such a horrible thing. :(
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Ignorance is such a horrible thing.

If encryption is banned, it would leave all communications vulnerable to interception by criminals, and sensitive data on everyone's computing devices would be vulnerable to theft.
 
Rroff said:
There are no half measures with banning encryption...
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Probably true, i'm no expert, but neither is Cameron, and that's why with that kind of sweeping statement, Cameron comes across as blunt and clueless.

That's what worries me most tbh, politicians shouldn't make up policies in a vaccum, and should understand the subtilities involved instead of just coming up with inane sound bites.

...And then swiftly walking away out of shot.
 
Can't see this ever happening, the whole point of encryption is that it's completely secure. As soon as the governments start demanding that they build in a back door to encrypted data then encryption becomes weak, and it will be weak for everyday things we use. Imagine how many card payments are taken online every day that benefit from the use of encryption. This would just cause the rate of cyber crime to rocket. Personally I see it causing more damage than good.
 
LordSplodge said:
"In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which we cannot read?”

There is the issue at hand.
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I'm not sure it is because historically there have been very few such communication methods. Go back 15 years and any popular communication method could, with the right court order, be read - post, telephone, email etc.

Today this isn't possible which may well be a problem but not one I think banning encryption is the solution to.

I suspect he doesn't really understand encryption (and why would he? Most people don't) so therefore we really ought to be asking just who is giving out the advice!

On a separate note I reckon most will people don't even realise things like Whats App are even encrypted. nobody seemed to care that SMS wasn't encrypted.
 
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[TW]Fox;28304757 said:
I'm not sure it is because historically there have been very few such communication methods. Go back 15 years and any popular communication method could, with the right court order, be read - post, telephone, email etc.
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We also didn't have the capability to trawl and datamine huge sweeps of the population's communications "just in case", without even a court order. We didn't ask to have everyone's security deliberately weakened "just in case".

It's like suggesting everyone should have a lock on their front door that can be opened by a special "police key". No one with any understanding would think that was practical or a good idea.
 
Steampunk said:
It's like suggesting everyone should have a lock on their front door that can be opened by a special "police key". No one with any understanding would think that was practical or a good idea.
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police-use-a-battering-ram-in-operation-kansas-to-hammer-down-a-suspect-s-door-698989679.jpg


:p
 
On a practical note, there will always be someone who will crack any backdoor to an algorithm. If the gov can get in, then potentially so can someone else.
 
[TW]Fox;28304757 said:
I suspect he doesn't really understand encryption (and why would he? Most people don't) so therefore we really ought to be asking just who is giving out the advice!

On a separate note I reckon most will people don't even realise things like Whats App are even encrypted. nobody seemed to care that SMS wasn't encrypted.
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[TW]Fox;28304953 said:
No, I agree with you. It should be a case of no court order, no access.
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I understand that the intelligence services have a difficult job and, with robust legal policy & procedure behind it to protect the populace, have no issue with suspects online activity monitored. I have issue with mass dragnet surveillance (mostly because of false positives) and the fact that current powers have shown to have been abused. RIPA being a prime example.


Burnsy2023 said:
On a practical note, there will always be someone who will crack any backdoor to an algorithm. If the gov can get in, then potentially so can someone else.
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Herein lies a real problem; Any weakening of encryption will lead to 'the bad guys' getting access as easily as the 'good guys'
 
Burnsy2023 said:
On a practical note, there will always be someone who will crack any backdoor to an algorithm. If the gov can get in, then potentially so can someone else.
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You mean the 'backdoors' that are already in place and available for employees to use on whatsapp, facebook, snapchat etc?
 
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