Investigatory Powers bill causes more strife over built-in backdoors | TechRadar
http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of- ... rs-1316751

It's the classic bait and switch of 'here's some sh1t even we're not evil enough for' that'll be swapped out for something 1.5% less evil. You just know that's the case, but nearly everything in this bill is an affront to privacy. Even commercial privacy.

To call it a disgrace doesn't cut it, it's downright fascist.

I can't help but think this kind of crap will just drive more and more people onto encrypted platforms as a matter of course so is ultimately self defeating. Which in turn inspires ever more draconian legislation.
Not so much sleep walking into an oppressive surveillance state as actively being pushed.

And if too many people move to encrypted platforms, then they'll be legislated against. Anyone using Tor automatically becomes a criminal.

Err. That sounds dreadfully familiar.

Obama issues a dire warning on the future of privacy | TechRadar
http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of- ... cy-1316781

He's in full-on 'I don't give a fcuk any more' mode... How about the fact that most people in the world are law-abiding, there isn't a country in the world that truly gives a fcuk about child porn or bank accounts, and the real terrorists in your country are heavily armed and homegrown because money?

How many times have you been caught spying on your allies? Twat.

It will be hilarious if after all of this they find sweet FA of anything of any value on the phone. Apart from, of course, the legal framework to make it happen again.

Tech mathematicians solved the problems with encryption 4 decades ago. It isn't breakable and it is pure math, so anyone can take it.

If tech companies stop using it and use a broken system, like the proposed Clipper from the late 90s or another "backdoored" system, then anybody with anything to really hide will simply use the existing open source libraries and roll their own storage and communications.

The proposed "backdoors" are useless. There is a backdoor key and as soon as the government have it, it won't be long (days or weeks) until criminals have it and another few weeks until foreign powers have it - or even less, they just need to get a court order in their home country and that is that.

Any weakness built into a system for "good" WILL be misused by both good and bad people, more bad people than good. Having a backdoor to a system is like having a fully open system that can be accessed by anyone - that or you will need to re-install and re-encrypt your system every couple of days, once the keys have leaked.

The only people it will inconvinience are normal, law abiding citizens, those who actually need their data protected against criminals, you know the people who put the politicians in power to look after their interests...

As to the IPB, there was a reason why the EUC declared the first RIPA illegal and the UK should go back to the drawing board. The UK government's only hope of getting it to stick is to leave the EU (and the EEA). Then they will be able to pass the bill, but UK based companies won't be able to do any business with the EU that involves the transfer of personally identifiable data (customer names and addresses, for example). It would put the UK tech business at a serious disadvantage.

This and the refusal to implement the required levels of data protection as required by the EU makes the UK no better than the USA, when it comes to data spying and means that they will also find it hard to implement their version of Safe Harbour / Privacy Shield - the new version of which still hasn't been ratified by the USA/EU.

It seems as if the UK and America are very anti technology businesses at the moment. Are the businesses becoming so powerful that the governments are running scared and doing their best to destroy them?

Businesses are the new nations.

The EU seems far more willing to protect personal data than our recent succession of governments have been.

They are and have been for some time. Apple's revenue in 2015 is higher than Saudi Arabia's GDP. If Apple were a country on revenue alone it would be the 18th richest country in the world, richer than Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Argentina, Belgium...

Apple doesn't have a massive army or nuclear weapons, but it probably has more 'soft power' than the majority of the nations of the world. Similarly true of the large merchant banks & oil companies.

Money = power. And corporations now hold a lot of the money that exists.