Unless you have been in a coma for the past month, you have read or heard a lot of stories about the battle between Apple and the FBI over unlocking the iPhone that belonged to the San Bernardino shooter. Increasingly, though, the tech media is stepping back from this battle and taking a broader look at a law enforcement “war” on encryption. Encryption has clear benefits (such as making it harder to hack Internet-connected cars), but for law enforcement it also breaks investigative tools that have been used for decades. It looks like the next battle in this war will be between law enforcement and WhatsApp, with many more battles to come.
- WhatsApp encryption said to stymie wiretap order (New York Times | Matt Apuzzo) “The iPhone case, which revolves around whether Apple can be forced to help the F.B.I. unlock a phone used by one of the killers in last year’s San Bernardino, Calif., massacre, has received worldwide attention for the precedent it might set. But to many in law enforcement, disputes like the one with WhatsApp are of far greater concern. For more than a half-century, the Justice Department has relied on wiretaps as a fundamental crime-fighting tool. To some in law enforcement, if companies like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram can design unbreakable encryption, then the future of wiretapping is in doubt.”
- The next front in the new crypto wars: WhatsApp (Electronic Frontier Foundation | Nate Cardozo) “The government’s theory, that the All Writs Act gives it the power to compel American companies to write code and design products to ensure law enforcement access to encrypted content, is virtually without limits. No devices, and indeed no encrypted messaging services, would be safe from such backdoor orders. If the government wins in San Bernardino, it could even force companies to give it access to software update systems, and send their users government surveillance software disguised as security patches.”
- Facebook, Google and WhatsApp plan to increase encryption of user data (The Guardian | Danny Yadron) “Unlike many encrypted messaging apps, WhatsApp hasn’t pushed the security functions of the service as a selling point to users. [Jan] Koum, its founder, has said users should be able to expect that security is a given, not a bonus feature. It’s unclear if that will change. In the coming weeks, WhatsApp plans to make a formal announcement about its expanded encryption offerings, sources said.”
- In the FBI’s crypto war, apps may be the next target (Wired | Andy Greenberg) “President Obama weighed in on the broader debate Friday [3/11] when he told the audience at SXSW in Austin, Texas, that tech companies need to find a way to give the government access to encrypted communication when necessary. ‘If, technologically, it is possible to make an impenetrable device or system, where the encryption is so strong that there is no key, there is no door at all, then how do we apprehend the child pornographer?’ the president asked.”
Articles from Ohio Web Library:
- Personal privacy up for grabs. (New American, 2/8/2016, p.23-28 | C. Mitchell Shaw)
- Can encryption save us? (Nation, 6/15/2015, p.16-18 | Eleanor Saitta)
- The harm in merely knowing: Privacy, complicity, surveillance, and the self. (Journal of Internet Law, July 2015, p.3-14 | Robert H. Sloan and Richard Warner)
