[Cryptography] escalating threats to privacy

[John Denker]

1) Quoting from:
  https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/26/intelligence-services-access-whatsapp-amber-rudd-westminster-attack-encrypted-messaging

> [UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd] said it was “completely unacceptable” 
> that the government could not read messages protected by end-to-end 
> encryption

> Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Rudd refused to 
> rule out passing new legislation to tackle encrypted messaging if she
> did not get what she wanted.

  Hypothetically, if one were being logical, one might observe that
  the recent attacker, acting alone, killed three people using an
  SUV and killed one person using a knife ... yet there are no calls
  to outlaw SUVs or knives.

Non-hypothetically, I am aware that logic plays remarkably little
role in political discussions of this issue.

The political situation is not entirely one-sided:
  https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/26/amber-rudd-battle-tech-firms-cabinet-whatsapp-david-davis



2) Quoting from:
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/senate-votes-to-undo-privacy-rules-that-protect-user-data/2017/03/23/3f4353bc-0fed-11e7-aa57-2ca1b05c41b8_story.html

> The Senate voted to kill Obama-era online privacy regulations, a 
> first step toward allowing internet providers such as Comcast, AT&T 
> and Verizon to sell your browsing habits and other personal 
> information

Bought and paid for by:

> NCTA — The Internet and Television Association, a trade group 
> representing major cable providers.

Technical details:
  https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/34/text

For "some" purposes one might distinguish between unchecked corporate
surveillance and unchecked government surveillance, but personally I'd
rather have none of the above.  And I worry that one leads to the other
anyway.



On 03/13/2017 06:46 PM, Bill Frantz wrote:
>> I like the farmers' market  because I can get fruits and
>> vegetables without stickers.

I like the farmer's market because I can buy stuff without having
my every choice recorded and analyzed.

I'm not so much worried by how stores track their tomatoes.
I'm much more worried by how they track me.

Quoting from:
  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+13&version=KJV

> And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and
> bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
> 
> And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or
> the name of the beast, or the number of his name.