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NZ Government Pushes For Wide Spying Powers
lim-bim-tim-wim writes: "The New Zealand government is planning to introduce powerful legislation to enable the Police, GCSB and Security Intelligence Service to hack into computers without the knowledge of the owner. Owners will also have to give up cryptographic keys and passwords on demand. ISPs and telecom companies will have to provide backdoors for government agencies. So how does this affect you? It appears this has been brought about by pressure from the FBI. So maybe your country is next. There is a short story at www.stuff.co.nz "
The article appears here.
Someone needs to write a pgp-driven encryption tool that works as follows:
It take a file to be encrypted, encrypts it, appends it to either another encrypted file using a different key, or a noise file encrypted using a random and discarded key, then merges the two and encrypts again using the first file's key.
Use this tool all the time whenever you encrypt anything. It will result in files twice the size of the original, but you can legitimately say you only have the key for one half of the file, and the other half is noise, as demonstrated by examining the open-source encryption program. However, it's entirely possible that the person could choose to merge in another, 'secret' encrypted file instead of the noise file, and this could only be proven if that key is discovered or cracked.
If such a program went into widespread use, the Enzed gov't would either have to prosecute everyone who used the program, despite the fact that they're breaking no laws, or they would lack any means of obtaining keys (which they can't prove even exist) to uncover data they similarly can't prove the existence of.
Kevin Fox
Kevin Fox
New Zealand is seeing a steady erosion in privacy and individual liberty, all in the name of crime prevention and detection. We host the Echelon system, we have passed laws restricting freedom of association with known criminals (tough shit if you're a social worker, eh?), we've made it easier for the police to obtain telecomms interception warrants, and we have a proliferation of cameras whose main effect is to drive street crime onto the fringes of cities instead of the centre.
This has happened with the best of intentions, aided by people who would be horrified at the suggestion that they were bit by bit contributing to the apparatus needed for a totalitarian state.
Unfortunately, privacy violation has no direct physical effects on people - it enables other abuses - so it's hard to muster public opposition until the abuse of power leads to some outrage. Of course, by that stage it may too late.
Therefore, I don't see much hope of a mass movement supporting privacy rights, especially when the inflammatory issues of paedophila and gangs get dragged in. Rational debate is futile in the face of Paul Holmes. (Overseas readers: The Holmes show is a popular television programme masquerading as a current events show but specialising in the pornograpphy of emotion). Abused children are a concrete wrong people can get upset about, invaded privacy is an abstract hurt that doesn't motivate sympathy.
However, every concerned Kiwi reader should think about joining the political party of their choice to try and make this an issue in their own party. This is an issue that crosses party lines. It's cheap to join any of NZ's mainstream political parties, and now that membership is so low in most of them, individual participation can have more effect than it could in the 70s or 80s.
I don't think crypto is the answer, since even when it is easily used, most people cannot protect their keys, and behave in ways that compromise security. In any case, I want to live in a society where I can assume I am not being monitored, not one where I have to consciously protect my communications.
Personally I feel despondent about checking this trend. We're seeing more instrusive "news" (how did you feel when your husband was shot), a rise in gossip and scandal, and shows whose whole rationale is snooping. The more and more we use invaded privacy for entertainment, the more we become inured to the idea that our private lives can be fodder for other people, and our privacy of little value. But I can't sit still.
How many people out there with a computer are actually terrorists? How many people have been caught plotting a terrorist activity by the FBI using something like a network sniffer or Carnivore? Pedophiles, on the other, have been caught under certain circumstances. I would love to see pedophiles and terrorist get thrown in jail, but to give up everyone's right to privacy and to make potential criminals out of everybody is not the way to do it. I will NEVER consent to this type of fascist orwellian abuse of power. I will stop surfing the net alltogether should this happen. I know what you're thinking... "yea yea, whatever dude." However, I'm dead serious on this one. I value my freedom and my privacy more than anything and no I don't have anything to hide and I'm no criminal, however I do believe I am entitled to certain rights! On the other hand, I can only stand in horror and dismay at the eroding freedoms in the US. I posted a rant on Kuro5hin called Has the US government become to hungry for power? In this rant I pointed out some abuses by corporations and government both overseas and on the local front. I encourage you to read it.
If the FBI indeed pressured the NZ government to do this then a similar plan is in effect here. I mean we do have carnivore, but to have a backdoor to everyone's PC? That is an Orwellian nightmare! What about fourth amendment protection against searches and seizures? If they can go into your computer at will, the fourth is standing on it's last leg. Wait, civil forfeiture laws already have the fourth amendment on it's last leg. Well, so much for the fourth.
My point here is, if you give the government and inch, it will take a mile. This is an attempt by government to make potential criminals out of it's citizens. If everyone is suspect then the police don't have to justify a warrant. This is the end of your civil liberties buddy! It is sad that governments are using this technology to spy on their own citizens. What is more sad is that you buy into their lie and believe that government is doing this for your protection. It is doing this to have more control under the guise of "protecting the innocent." Sorry, I don't buy this and neither will anyone else with half a brain. Whether we can do anything about it is another story alltogther.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin
When you get a bit older, and the government consistently oversteps its bounds to screw you over bit by bit, inch by inch, all in the name of "protecting you," sooner or later you will wonder how it happened.
Maybe you'll be audited. Maybe you'll sell your car to somebody who racks up $15k of violations, but due to a filing error, the DMV still thinks the car is yours and the cops have a warrant out for your arrest (don't laugh, this is happening to a friend of mine). Maybe you'll write a piece of software that somebody doesn't like. Maybe you'll write a book that somebody doesn't like.
You sound like you still have a lot of life to live. Once you spend a few more decades in the REAL world, and learn a bit more about human nature, and the nature of governments you will realize how naive you sound.
On the other hand, maybe you are a troll.
The history books are full of martyrs who died at the hands of somebody with a righteous cause of "protecting the innocent"
What if you are being persecuted under laws you don't happen to agree with?
I bet they're not going to be very good at it .... you wait - pretty soon they'll be licensing private firewalls ... and demanding their own backdoors ...
I remember them at a political demonstration in the early 80s - they stood out like sore thumbs - they were all ex-military and still looked it .... they opened a 'secret' office in my home town to watch the russian fishing boats .... disguised as a 'law office' of course all the local lawyers figured it out right away .... and they had their phone number in the phone book .... if you stood outside and called them you could hear the phone ring inside :-)
And what if they use these powers to persecute political enemies, blackmail innocent people, or subvert the processes of the political system? Nah, couldn't ever happen...
"It's overkill, of course. But you can never have too much overkill." - Anonymous Slashdot Coward
Sorry this post is slightly biased towards NZ'rs, but then so is the story.
First, go here and find out who your local Member of Parliament is. Yes, even if you didn't vote, they still represent you. If you're not sure what electorate you're in, look at one of the maps. (North Island or South Island or Maori Electorates)
Next, go here and find the email address and postal address of your local MP. Write them a polite email or letter stressing why you think that this legislation is bad. Try to summarise the main, interesing points in the first paragraph or two and then break into more detail. Use a spellchecker and if possible get someone to proof-read it. Wait for a couple of hours, re-read it, and if it still looks okay then send it.
Writing a letter is better, but since many IT people haven't written a normal letter in several years, email is better than nothing. Remember, you don't need a stamp when you're sending a leter to someone on Parliament. Just address it to "[Name], c/- Parliament Buildings, Wellington" where [Name] is the name of the MP you're writing to.
If you don't get a response from your local MP within a couple of days, resend it and apologise - suggesting that it might have gotten lost in the mail. If you still don't get a response, phone (04)471-9999 and tell them that their email relaying might not be working. Whatever you do, don't let it rest if nobody answers and don't be impolite.
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