FBI Considers CALEA II: Mandatory Wiretapping On Every Device 318
Techmeology writes "In response to declining utility of CALEA mandated wiretapping backdoors due to more widespread use of cryptography, the FBI is considering a revamped version that would mandate wiretapping facilities in end users' computers and software. Critics have argued that this would be bad for security (PDF), as such systems must be more complex and thus harder to secure. CALEA has also enabled criminals to wiretap conversations by hacking the infrastructure used by the authorities. I wonder how this could ever be implemented in FOSS."
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?!?! (Score:4, Interesting)
They will see no fallout from the AP wiretapping (Score:5, Interesting)
The most you can hope for is a civil suit. The process and any penalties will be paid by tax dollars to the reporters.
Its over. The entire justification for when we STOLE the states from the king of England was that we were going to live system where the people govern themselves.
But thats over now:
1. The ratio of citizen to congress critter has risen steadily so that they can walk or run away from their constituents
2. The function of the Senate has drastically changed and more decisions are made there, further eroding the power of popular vote. 2 per state/6yr terms
3. The things we used to laugh at the Russian people for: Corrupt press, Corrupt travel restrictions, Reading Mail, Wiretapping, corrupt law enforcement are all S.O.P for our government now.
4. We used to laugh at the Russians for electing their leaders. Both candidates came from the same party and there was no real choice. Which is what we have here now.
5., We used to laugh at the Russians for infiltrating and subverting democracy groups. Thats what we do here now.
6. We used to laugh at the fact that no one there "owned" anything. With the value of everything here based on an arbitrary currency, it essentially the same thing.
7 There is a defacto get-out-of jail free card for every president in office or after term.
I have worked with the people who "watch over us". They are relentlessly dishonest and always convinced they are right. And they have only one lens to view anything: us vs them. And once you are 'them", they have no morality at all.
Try to enjoy your life. Try not to have kids.
Re:Sheesh (Score:5, Interesting)
We, europeans see you like living in a police state, much like the movies show about nazi germany, soviet russia, etc. You live in the type of country your army and your parents once fought (Hitler Germany). But The European government is going in the same direction and I'd like you to stand up against your tyranny, because I still see the american people as brave and having a sense of fight for freedom, much more than we europeans. So I expect the real spirit of your founding memebers make a comeback someday but only the american people can bring it. 15 years ago, I met a computer researcher who was giving a conference at my university. He took out his wireless mouse to connect it to the laptop, and suddenly he realized he wasn't in his country, he quickly switched it off and asked for permission or ifnormation because he didn't want to break any law regarding radiofrecuency emissions due to his mouse being from other country. During some seconds I felt he was worried about the time he had had it switched on. While I admire the eduated behaviour of americans, I really got sad to see how afraid of the system you can go at any simple, naive action of your daily life.
Life in America is much worse nowadays than most of the rest of the world. But your TV keeps you entertained and narcotized, and like muslims do when worshiping their god contiuously not to be misstaken by an infidel by the rest of the belivers, you americans worship your country not to be taken by a antiamerican-terrorist-comunist-anarchist- etc. The same lybia you bombed to the grounds to "liberate from tyranny" had on average a better living standar than your beloved america (this sounds strange, I know, but have you ever been to libya? or is it just that you've been TVBRainwashed ?) But 99% of americans were efectively driven to think they were in the free rich world, and Lybia was in the poor tyrannized world. Don't you ask yourselves how can the CIA be helping alquaeda en Siria while the FBI is considering wiretapping every device in America? Is your governmetn fighting the terrorism to protect you? Or is it fighting you to protect them?
Re:Astoundingly bad idea (Score:5, Interesting)
I remember this with the Clipper Chip, and FBI Director Freeh. It is understandable that they want this -- makes their job a lot easier, and makes a lot more material to sift through.
However, there were the same issues with this wiretap stuff as with the Clipper Chip:
1: Bad guys getting access to the backdoor, just like back then, bad guys getting access to the LEAF (law enforcement access field, part of the key escrow mechanism.) When (not if) this happens, every single endpoint is wide open, and this becomes a national security issue when companies start getting hacked wholesale and there is nothing they can do except power off and unplug.
2: Abuse. Of course, this would allow anyone with access to this a lot of material they can scoop up, and sell.
3: There would be -billions- spent by rogue nations, criminal organizations, and others to get at those master keys. When the money is at stake, it will turn into a game of finding out what people are even close to the master keys, and kidnapping their family. The billions spent on compromising an update repository in order to get backdoored programs into the target would reward the rogues with trillions.
Securing the master keys is one thing. Keeping them secure while in use for massive eavesdropping and protecting them from leaks is a very difficult task. Someone in the chain can be compromised eventually, which leads us to point #1.
Plus, we already have a shitload of ways that an endpoint can be compromised. A lot of software updaters send a unique computer ID. It doesn't take much to have a certain ID get a slightly modified signed update while everyone else gets something else.
Re:Sheesh (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sheesh (Score:4, Interesting)
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