News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens a backdoor to your life. Parent comment

Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by dhosek on Thursday August 05, 2021 @05:22PM (#28080046)
The fact that teens are children means that if, say a 16-yo sends a nude selfie to their s.o., they've just committed a felony (distributing child pornography) that can have lifelong consequences (thanks to hysterical laws about sex offender registries, both kids could end up having to register as sex offenders for the rest of their life and will be identified as having committed a crime that involved a minor. Few if any of the registries would say more than this and anyone who looks in the registry will be led to believe that they molested a child and not shared a selfie or had one shared with them). The laws may not be just or correct, but they are the current state of the world. Parents need to talk to their kids about this sort of thing, and this seems one of the less intrusive way for them to discover that there's an issue. If it were automatically shared with law enforcement? That would be a big problem (and a guarantee that my kids don't get access to a device until they're 18), but I'm not ready¹ to be up in arms about this yet.

1. I reserve the right to change my mind as things are revealed/developed.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by bambax on Thursday August 05, 2021 @06:07PM (#28080626)
> they've just committed a felony (distributing child pornography)

In the US, maybe (not sure if this is even true in all states), but not in most other countries in the world, where a 16-year-old is not a child, nudity is not a problem, and "sex offender registries" don't exist.

The US is entitled to make its own (crazy, ridiculous, stupid) laws, but we shouldn't let them impose those on the rest of us.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by hetspookjee on Friday August 06, 2021 @05:10AM (#28084840)
Yet for the largest part this is where we are ending up. Just look at Facebook and Twitter deciding what is right and wrong. I think that's wrong in a lot of ways but appearantly there is very little the EU and others can do about it.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by bambax on Friday August 06, 2021 @05:22AM (#28084905)
There is a lot the EU could do if it wanted to, or had any kind of courage. But we are weak and fearful.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by philistine on Thursday August 05, 2021 @06:02PM (#28080571)
I’d argue that the problem of minors declared sex offenders for nude pictures has reached a critical mass that scares me. At this point, sex offenders of truly vile things can hide by saying that they are on a sex offender registry because of underage selfies. And I think most people will believe them.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by joombaga on Thursday August 05, 2021 @10:20PM (#28082580)
Am I missing something? Why would they say they're sex offenders at all?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by cormacrelf on Friday August 06, 2021 @12:22AM (#28083299)
As I understand it, one of the primary purposes of sex offender registries is to get information out about who is on them. I believe some people are forced to knock on doors in their neighbourhood and disclose it. In other situations they would just be getting ahead of the story.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by emadabdulrahim on Thursday August 05, 2021 @11:08PM (#28082868)
They wouldn't. But if they were sex offenders, they could claim that their offense was simply sending a nude when they were 16. While their real offense may have been rape.

I don't actually know what the law is in regard to sex offense. I'm simply explaining what I understood from the previous comment.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by wccrawford on Thursday August 05, 2021 @06:19PM (#28080753)
I worked with someone that claimed this, years ago. And they were still young enough that I believed them.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by jfjsjcjdjejcosi on Thursday August 05, 2021 @06:42PM (#28081010)
> if, say a 16-yo sends a nude selfie to their s.o., they've just committed a felony ... The laws may not be just or correct, but they are the current state of the world.

Hence, strong E2E encryption designed to prevent unjust government oppression, without backdoors.

Parents should talk to their teenagers about sex regardless of if they get a notification on their phone telling them they missed the boat.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by SahAssar on Thursday August 05, 2021 @06:19PM (#28080758)
I get your points, but the end result is that the client in an E2EE system can no longer be fully trusted to act on the clients behalf. That seems alarming to me.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's plan to “think different” about encryption opens ... by anthk on Thursday August 05, 2021 @05:43PM (#28080335)
> The laws may not be just or correct, but they are the current state of the world

America, not Europe. Or Japan.

[ Parent | on HN ]