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A comment on Facebook Tells Barr It Won’t Open Up Encrypted Messages. Parent comment

Re:Facebook Tells Barr It Won’t Open Up Encrypted Messages by erikpukinskis on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @08:51PM (#21758833)
“Can” as in “I can change how my software is built so that in the future I will be able to” is different from “can” as in “there is nothing preventing me from doing this right now except the time it takes”.

Facebook “can” read messages in the former sense, but apparently not the latter.

I think the distinction is a meaningful one, legally.

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Re:Facebook Tells Barr It Won’t Open Up Encrypted Messages by noelsusman on Tuesday December 10, 2019 @09:16PM (#21758959)
That's why I'm confused about Facebook claiming it's impossible. It seems clearly possible without compromising anything about the current level of security on the platform. They would have to develop specific functionality for it, but it is possible.
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Re:Facebook Tells Barr It Won’t Open Up Encrypted Messages by erikpukinskis on Wednesday December 11, 2019 @12:41PM (#21764805)
Yes, and it’s possible for me to plant lettuce underneath my apple trees and deliver romaine to people in 10 weeks.

But the courts can’t force me to do that.

They can force me to turn over lettuce that’s already in the ground.

In both cases I “can” deliver a hundred pounds of lettuce to the courts. But the courts can only demand things I already possess. Not “whatever I am capable of collecting”.

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