Slashdot Mirror
British Police Demand Access To Encryption Keys
flip-flop writes "In the wake of recent terrorist attacks, police here in the UK have asked for sweeping new powers they claim will help them counter the threat. Among these is making it a criminal offense for people to refuse disclosing their encryption keys when the police want to access someone's files." From the article: "The most controversial of the police proposals is the demand to be able to hold without charge a terrorist suspect for three months instead of 14 days. An Acpo spokesman said the complexity and scale of counter-terrorist operations means the 14-day maximum is often insufficient."
I'm trolling, but... people who complain at every time some civil liberties are being curtailed in order to fight terrorism do not offer any other methods of fighting it. The bombings in London, Madrit and 9/11 all prove that 'the old ways' are not working anymore. The system must be changed, and those who criticize their governments practically over everything they do in this situation seldom offer any propositions of their own.
"Long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." (John Maynard Keynes)
"The real measure of a free, open and just society is how it behaves in bad times - not in good times"
While this sort of thing sounds good, a few problems come to mind in the current context. Is the true test of a person's health that a person is only as healthy as they are when they're sick? Lance Armstrong was in pretty bad shape a few years ago, but he'll be remembered as one of the most fit people on earth.
Whatever your measure of freedom is, it must be relative. So a country like the UK (in this case) may not be free according to some abstract critical standard, but when compared with all the states that exist or have existed it fares pretty well. Would you rather be an American living under the regime of the Patriot Act, or living in Iran or China?