Maybe there's something in the water in Washington D.C. these days, but this is clearly A Very Good Thing Indeed:
A bipartisan, bicameral pair of lawmakers urged newly confirmed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to reevaluate U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence-sharing relations with the United Kingdom in response to a report revealing that the UK secretly ordered Apple to build a backdoor into encrypted iCloud backups.
The Feb. 7 report from the Washington Post says that the order issued last month demands UK law enforcement and intelligence operatives be granted worldwide, unfettered access to users’ protected cloud data. Apple customers residing in the United States would be cast into that dragnet.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., asked Gabbard in the Thursday missive if the Trump administration was made aware of the order by stakeholders and whether the White House has understanding of the CLOUD Act, which lets U.S. law enforcement get data stored by American tech companies, even if that data is on servers outside the U.S., by using warrants or subpoenas.
“If Apple is forced to build a backdoor in its products, that backdoor will end up in Americans’ phones, tablets, and computers, undermining the security of Americans’ data, as well as of the countless federal, state and local government agencies that entrust sensitive data to Apple products,” they wrote in their letter to Gabbard.
Remember, Encryption Backdoors are a Very Bad Idea. It's not just me saying this, it's the former Director of the UK's GCHQ (their NSA equivalent).
And well done to Congresscritters from both parties in both the House and Senate for putting some pressure on the idiots in Blimey.
6 comments:
Perhaps someday they might find time to put pressure on the idiots at Ft. Meade and Langley?
Wow. I almost typed to the end of that sentence before I burst out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
Ah yes, ye olde two way street, and all that... Too bad it's been one way for years.
The intel people have been using the 'special relationship' to spy on Americans by having the foreign government intercept phone calls made from US citizens abroad to the US then using that as predicate to open an investigation. Papodopolaous and "Ambassador" Downer of Australia being a prime example.
Don't kick the UK out of Five Eyes, exit ourselves. Really, how much to people trust Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Any of those countries would serve equally well as a conduit for our IC to violate the Constitution.
The backdoor has already been built into the US with the CALEA act of 1994. Unfortunately, when you build in a backdoor to your equipment, others (China) can use it as well.
Oops...
I disagree with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) on almost everything, and have for years. But credit where credit is due, he has a better handle on the importance of cybersecurity, individual end-to-end encryption, and freedom from spying eyes (government or otherwise) than almost anyone in Congress, and is 100% willing to reach across the aisle on that issue.
The reality is, the U.K. government says they want to spy on communications "for law enforcement purposes and investigations", but once they have a backdoor, the black-hats have a backdoor. There's no way in hell a known backdoor will remain unexploited by more nefarious groups for long.
I guaran-damn-tee someone has reminded the U.K. government of this. And also that police investigations don't need full access; they build solid cases using network analyses to connect criminal associates and then using good old-fashioned evidence gathering. But the Blimey government doesn't care, they want their backdoor.
The question is -- given the 100% certainty that the Bad Guys will also have access (including to communications between government employees and "Ministers"), and that police investigations don't really need it -- what is their demanded backdoor really for?
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