CNET learns the FBI is quietly pushing its plan to force surveillance backdoors on social networks, VoIP, and Web e-mail providers, and that the bureau is asking Internet companies not to oppose a law making those backdoors mandatory.I don't think this is a very big deal. Current corporate grade telecom systems (including Voice over IP, or VoIP) already provide the capability to do wiretaps. Google "lawful intercept" and you'll find a bunch of reading material on this.
What this new effort is focused on are cloud based services like Apple's video chat, Skype, GoogleTalk, and the rest. Probably a pain for those companies to implement, but this isn't a new ask, and it's unlikely to open up security holes - lawful intercept isn't implemented on the handset, it's implemented on the call manager - the device that maps phone numbers or identities to IP addresses. Google's call management software would just be updated to perform the wiretap.
So despite my libertarian leanings, it doesn't seem like there's anything here.
2 comments:
All this does is make this 'legal'... It's already in effect!
How would that work for peer-to-peer communications, though? I assume Skype data is encrypted -- if they required that encryption to be easily decrypted through a key they possess, couldn't someone crack that the way the AACS key was cracked?
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