[Cryptography] Statement from Attorney General William P., Barr on Introduction of Lawful Access Bill in Senate

[Arnold Reinhold]

The best argument against AG Barr's efforts to weaken end-to-end encryption in popular communications services is that the bad guys will simply stop using them.  The recent new reports about the successful law enforcement take down of the Encrochat secure mobile phone network seems relevant here:

   https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3aza95/how-police-took-over-encrochat-hacked 

According to the article: "Police monitored a hundred million encrypted messages sent through Encrochat, a network used by career criminals to discuss drug deals, murders, and extortion plots.” Extensive arrests followed and several major criminal gangs have gone to ground. The authorities are not saying how they cracked the encryption, though they apparently found a way to install software on the Encrochat devices. 

There are many ways for law enforcement to exploit communications on end-to-end networks. Call metadata provides valuable information on who is talking to whom. Traffic analysis can suggest timing of big events, like major drug shipments of terrorist attacks.  Infiltrating an undercover agent or turning a gang member can gain access to message traffic, and there are always zero day flaw and physical implant possibilities. And of course we have a vast array of surveillance tools that have become practical since the last time the U.S. Government tried to restrict cryptograph,  in the 1990s: cell phone location tracking, ubiquitous CCTV with license plate readers and face recognition, DNA databases, microphones in TV sets and voice assistants, etc. etc. That’s hardly going dark.

The last thing we want is for the bad guys to develop more effective communication discipline. When Osama bin Laden learned that the phones he was using were tracking him, he switched to communicating via thumb drive and trusted courier.  The most dangerous of all is radio silence, used in the most devastating attacks from Pearl Harbor to 9/11. 

We want to keep the bad guys talking as much as possible.


Arnold Reinhold