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0 pointshilbert428h ago0 comments

Seems to me we're going to have to let the anti-encryption mob have their way until things go wrong—bigtime. No amount of expert advice will convince them until they witness firsthand the negative consequences of weakening encryption.

It's only afterwards and as a consequence some highly newsworthy disasters occur such as a child abduction or political sex scandal involving a high profile politician come to light that the lay public will get the message that weak encryption is effectively no encryption.

In the meantime criminals will be early adopters of more sophisticated messaging such as steganography.

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mrkeen3h ago

I don't think I've ever seen a consequence (from a legislator's POV.)

If someone does a high-profile enough hack, that can only mean more laws and increased police power to target it.

xingped7h ago

Would be nice, but you know they'll carve out exceptions for themselves or use "unauthorized" messaging channels regardless with no consequences. It is _always_ "rules for thee, not for me" with politicians.

nerdsniper4h ago

This is generally my opinion on accelerationism as a solution to concerning trends:

https://thebad.website/comic/accelerationism

Razengan5h ago

> until they witness firsthand the negative consequences of weakening encryption.

They won't be affected.

The hitherto invisible but very real wall between social classes is just going to become more visible for "First World" civilians the way it's been in "lesser" countries for decades already.

Actual "criminals" have always been able to get around all the restrictions ever put in place since the dawn of civilization, it's just the common folk that get trodded on and kept in their place.

Mars0087h ago

> Seems to me we're going to have to let the anti-encryption mob have their way until things go wrong—bigtime.

Been there, seen that. That's how Pakistan got nuclear bomb. France was just making friends.

BrenBarn6h ago

In most cases I think the revelation of a scandal involving a high-profile politician would be a good thing. (That is, better than it remaining secret.)

flowerthoughts4h ago

To be fair, the EU governments led the way to an unencrypted future with TETRA and the broken TEA1 encryption scheme. They're just giving back freedom and openness to the people now. /s

leonidasrup4h ago

Weakening of encryption standards is much older than that.

Weakening of the DES encryption by US goverment in 1970s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Encryption_Standard

The GSM encryption from 1990s

"Security researcher Ross Anderson reported in 1994 that "there was a terrific row between the NATO signal intelligence agencies in the mid-1980s over whether GSM encryption should be strong or not. The Germans said it should be, as they shared a long border with the Warsaw Pact; but the other countries didn't feel this way, and the algorithm as now fielded is a French design."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A5/1

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