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The part that amuses me about the government backing down on the end-to-end encryption thing is that, as far as I remember, they never actually said they were seeking to ban it, only that companies have to be able to provide the plaintext. That sounded like what Apple was doing around CSAM on device scanning.
I know that I’m still working through changing my LastPass passwords. The only comforting thing about the fallout from the LastPass debacle is that it took this long for anyone to exploit the stolen information.
No, they never wanted to ban encryption, they just wanted a backdoor into all encryption.
That is unlike the CSAM scanning Apple tried, which was doing a local scan on the device of files being uploaded to the cloud. The government wanted a backdoor to look at all conversations in transit, without the sender or receiver being aware they were being listened to and without the need for a warrant…
Ah, that might have been where I was getting confused. I might have been more OK with it if it were the CSAM scanning thing
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I wouldn’t be OK with CSAM scanning. Microsoft and Google have proved just how bad an idea this is, both have had cases, where they have locked, then deleted accounts and passed the information onto authorities and, when the authorities come back and say it was a false positive, the refuse to re-open the accounts, all data stored is lost, all purchases are lost, you have to basically start your digital life over again.
It is one of the reasons why I haven’t uploaded the pictures of my granddaughter’s open baptism, there was a niece running around naked in the sun, so she appears on many of the photos. I cropped her as much as possible, they are all innocent, and I gave them to my daughter and her husband’s family on a USB stick, but I don’t want to take the chance of Microsoft locking my account, because I photographed a baptism party! (I also keep backups of all the data I have stored in the cloud.)
Until Big Tech sorts itself out and stops reporting innocent parties to the police and then destroying their online lives, when they are proven innocent, I will never be in favour of CSAM scanning. Yes, I want the bad guys caught, but Big Tech shouldn’t be ruining innocent people’s lives in the process, even after the authorities have stated, on paper, with official seal, that they are innocent and Big Tech made a big mistake in reporting them in the first place!
In Germany, you are presumed innocent, until proven guilty, in Big Tech, you are presumed guilty, even when proven innocent by the relevant authorities, and that just isn’t fair!
Here is one case out of Germany:
I wouldn’t say that’s proof that it’s a bad idea - just that they’re over cautious. Now, however, I can’t help thinking the whole encryption debate is a red herring. Everyone runs round with their arses on fire (sorry, but the only other phrase I can think of it “knickers in a twist” which seems sexist so in lleu of another phrase, I’ll go with that) due to the whole encryption thing, and then they pass the stuff about banning legal but harmful speech and anything that might be considered “hate speech” while we’re not looking
Overly cautious? They delete the entire digital lives of people the police have proven have done nothing wrong…
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