As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between privacy, security

Re:As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between p... by moe on Saturday April 11, 2015 @07:01PM (#9361176)

This whole debate is a red herring.

The NSA already has backdoors[1][2] in your Desktop OS (Windows, OSX), in your mobile OS (Android, iOS), in your smartphone hardware (Qualcomm Baseband), in your ISPs network hardware (Cisco, Juniper), in your server hardware (Dell), in your network hardware (most router firmwares), and there's rumors they have backdoors in Intel and AMD CPUs, too.

Why would they be concerned about encryption that runs on top of hard- and software that they can control at will?

[1] https://gigaom.com/2013/12/29/nsas-backdoor-catalog-exposed-...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_ANT_catalog

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A

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Re:As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between p... by tptacek on Saturday April 11, 2015 @07:27PM (#9361236)

It would certainly be the most expensive and hamfisted possible way for NSA to get access to a target computer system.

The more you know about how encryption software is actually built and deployed in large-scale applications, the sillier this "split key escrow" trial balloon sounds. It is facially ridiculous and will never happen. Good for pageviews, though!

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Re:As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between p... by bendoernberg on Saturday April 11, 2015 @09:27PM (#9361617)

What makes it expensive and hamfisted?

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Re:As encryption spreads, U.S. grapples with clash between p... by carrotleads on Saturday April 11, 2015 @07:40PM (#9361270)

I would assume they work off the logic, you can always have more weapons...

The softer weapons can be handed to low level personnel...

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