Security → Former NSA lawyer: the cyberwar is between tech firms and the US government

quote:

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The battle over encryption of consumer internet users’ data has pitched US technology companies against the US government itself, former NSA general counsel Stewart Baker said on Tuesday.

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»www.theguardian.com/tech ··· -snowden

Yeah, that happens when your try and spy on everyone 24/7/365. It tends to piss them off.
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Don't feed trolls--it only makes them grow!

This sort of thing is needed to rationalize wars in my opinion.

said by Stewart Baker :

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"But I've worked with these companies and as soon as they get a law enforcement request no matter how liberal or enlightened they think they are, sooner to later they find some crime that is so loathsome they will do anything to find that person and identify them so they can be punished.

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Yes and it seems that Google and Apple have found the fourth amendment violations to be so loathsome that they have decided to punish them government by making encryption the default configuration instead of leaving it for the users of their products to figure out on their own.

"Trust the math." - Bruce Schneier
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All opinions are my own and should not be attributed to any other person or organization.

"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something." - Robert A. Heinlein

What I find more interesting than what Google/Apple etc are doing is how it's viewed.

quote:

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Baker [the ex NSA lawyer] said encrypting user data had been a bad business model for Blackberry, which has had to dramatically downsize its business and refocus on business customers. “Blackberry pioneered the same business model that Google and Apple are doing now - that has not ended well for Blackberry,” said Baker.

He claimed that by encrypting user data Blackberry had limited its business in countries that demand oversight of communication data, such as India and the UAE and got a bad reception in China and Russia. “They restricted their own ability to sell. We have a tendency to think that once the cyberwar is won in the US that that is the end of it - but that is the easiest war to swim.”

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Translation: Encryption is bad. Not because it makes gathering data harder for the NSA but because it's bad for your business.

Um, yeah... right.
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Don't feed trolls--it only makes them grow!

Blackberry is probably a better choice for non-democratic governments.

As an aside I've wondered why the communist governments don't write their own OS.

Former NSA lawyer: "Listen to me as I state the obvious." C'mon, the "cyberwar" has been going on for years if you pay attention.

“There’s a very comfortable techno-libertarian culture where you think you’re doing the right thing,”

The liberation of Beijing is crazy

Blackberry's lack of success has more to do itunes than encryption