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EU Ministers Seek To Ban Creation of Hacking Tools
alphadogg writes "Justice Ministers across Europe want to make the creation of 'hacking tools' a criminal offense, but critics have hit back at the plans, saying that they are unworkable. Ministers from all 27 countries of the European Union met on June 9 to discuss European Commission proposals for a directive on attacks against information systems. But in addition to approving the Commission's text, the ministers extended the draft to include 'the production and making available of tools for committing offenses.' This is problematic, as much legal and legitimate software could be put to criminal use by hackers. The draft mentions 'malicious software designed to create botnets or unrightfully obtained computer passwords,' but goes no further in attempting to clarify what 'tools' might be subject to criminal sanctions."
They mean text editors (as opposed to word processors), compilers, interpreters, etc. Pretty much anything with a command line.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
When will we get some politicians who have backgrounds in what they're actually working in. Zzzz
They'd never abuse this law by using it against people using legitimate software for legitimate purposes.
Oh, wait...
What would Richard Feynman do, if he were here right now? He'd do some math and he'd follow through!
An axe?
Not a professional security researcher (as narrowly defined by law?) You're not allowed to possess or create tools that help find security vulnerabilities. That means you, Joe Blow who writes webapps -- you can't run attacks against your own server because the tools are illegal, and you can't build your own tools either. I guess you'll have to release that software untested in certain ways, then hope the black hats decide to follow the same laws as you.
They obviously don't understand even the elementals of coding. Now if they really want to get these guys there are better ways of doing it. But trying to stop Axe murderers by taking them away from all Firemen is just retarded.
End of Line.
How does one define "hacking tools?" Debuggers are pretty useful for hackers, as are things like netcat/socat, any of dozens of programming languages, and just about anything that lets you work at a low level. This does not even get into the legitimate uses of pen testing tools.
Oh, wait, let me guess: people will have to register with the government to use any of the above?
Palm trees and 8
blah blah Guns don't kill people...
is illegal, under Canadian law? Wow, when can we expect the invasion?
i mean, clearly, emacs is a threat to national security.
You can't just ban software. There is absolutely no practical way to stop people from sharing code, and there fucking shouldn't be. If you ban these tools, the only people seriously affected will be the white hats.
So would evolution be ok then?
(Since most coding of such programs is more of an evolutionary thing than created in 6 days and then stays the same for over 6015 years
How would this help? It would only make the illegal actions more illegal while preventing good security audits, thereby making security problems worse!
Thanks to the security morans at Citibank, this would mean no web browsers (since all it took was a URL bar to "hack" their site)...
No more debuggers.
No more tools to verify your own application security.
No more wget.
No more web proxies.
No more memory leak testers.
No more firewalls or routers.
No more name servers.
At least, not available to the good guys.
They mean "hacking tools" like tor and pgp/gpg, right? Of course, first they'll come for metasploit, then nmap, then... but we all know what the end game is.
Compilers, Dictionaries, Debuggers, Keyboards, Computers, Internet, ... and whatever revision system the kernel hackers use.
-Woof woof woof!
Put that compiler down and step back. Slowly!
Have gnu, will travel.
No more axes! Not only do they hack at trees, they could be used to break into a co-lo.
More Caffeine. NOW
"Let's ensure that only those willing to break the law will have access to these tools."
Screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches (can take servers apart and remove disk drives)
Drills, saws, punches (can cut holes in locked server cabinets to remove individual machines
Water jet equipment (such as those from Flow Industries; can cut holes in data center walls to get into server rooms)
Jack hammers; air hammers; diamond rock cuttings saws (can be used to cut holes in the walls of data center buildings
Bulldozers; front end loaders; heavy trucks with snowplows attached (can be used to tear off the corner of a data center building and expose sensitive servers
Trucks, trailers, trains, boats, barges, airplanes, blimps, bicycles, backpacks (can be used to carry stolen servers from broken in data centers
Your human body and mind (can be used to initiate hacks)
God (who invented all of us and gave us the ability to hack)
Most Respectfully Yours Mark Allyn Bellingham, Washington
It still amazes me how people seek legislative solutions to what are purely technical problems. Hey politicians: you're doing it wrong. If you're going to legislate something, then legislate the use of memory safe programming languages and proof carrying code. Security problems would be mostly solved, and software would have fewer bugs overall to boot.
Higher Logics: where programming meets science.
Can't find the people who are smart enough to download and use My First Password Cracker, but I'm sure you'll totally catch the people who were smart enough to create it.
Why do these bureaucrats waste people's time? Instead of focussing in things that really do damage, like pollution or financial fraud with an example of an agency that sabotaged investigations, they waste time on non-issues.
Hacking can [sometimes] be good for the society at large.
For example, I would like to delete all information from one social networking site but I cannot. Hacking would be my only 'rescue'. And that's bad?
Yes!
Lets make sure professionals can't test their own security, and only people in foreign countries can attack our infrastructure!
This is such a good idea, I wonder how nobody has thought of it multiple times every year for the past 15 years!
Blessed are the pessimists, for they have made backups.
Also, no lock picks, hammers, pry bars, wrenches, coat hangers, wire cutters, screwdrivers, axes, drills, flashlights, torches or fire, as they can all be used in the commission of a great number of crimes.
"but [the draft] goes no further in attempting to clarify what 'tools' might be subject to criminal sanctions". Why would it? By leaving it open ended, they're free to enforce the ban whenever they feel it's fitting for them; picking and choosing any "offending" software when they feel it's warranted.
It's common knowledge that people and companies only do the minimum effort they can get away with so I expect systems to become weaker over time if this is enforced.
So please bring it on.
Criminals will not be affected by this law at all, they are already breaking other laws, they aren't going to care about breaking one more. Meanwhile, people who follow procedure and legitimately need to do penetration testing on their own systems and services will be handcuffed. The result of this will be criminals tools will only get better, and "hacking" tools, used for legitimate purposes will be left in the stone age as developers have to jump through hoops just to get any security tests done.
Here is the real solution: Spend the time, money, and effort to make your shit secure, and hold people accountable who store sensitive information in a careless way. Almost anything could be considered a hacking tool, good luck enforcing that.
If what I just said sounded like a troll, it was probably just a failed attempt at humor.
oh please gimmeafsckbreak
and it doesn't stop their use, why would banning their possession stop them? I fail to grasp how anyone can come to the conclusion that someone intent on criminal activities would mend their ways simply because another facet of their operation is made illegal. Guns aren't the problem, network security tools aren't the problem. People are the problem. If you want to solve the problem you're going to have to ban them.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
If the Apple iOS/app store model is any indication of things to come, pretty soon PC's will be as locked down as consoles and cellphones. You won't have to worry about running any unauthorized code because the good folks at Apple, Dell, etc. will force you to get all your software through their app store.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
retards
judge deeds. it's utterly stupid and unproductive to focus onto the tools instead focusing onto the deeds.
.Play.Open.Minded.
I wonder how long before they decide my keyboard is a weapon too.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Microsoft Word contains a macro language so I guess it'll be banned too.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
Sorry if this has been thought of already...
"If hacking tools are made illegal, only criminals will have hacking tools."
Well, at least that would make it harder for the software patent trolls, which allegedly fund terrorism, to do their harm.
Today is a good day to bribe a high-ranking public official.
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
No, they want to put in jail people writting softwares used by sCr1pT k1Ddi3s.
One week ago, on french TV, we saw some kids using some complete script with GUI to enter a hospital WIFI.
Then the kids showed the camera the big "KILL" button to shut down the network.
Remind me the 7thSphere mIRC mod :)
Just so we can time how long it takes for the entire IT Industry in the EU to collapse so completely scientists will be studying it for singularity effects.
I'll meet you at the intersection of "Should be" and "Reality"
This has nothing at all in common with The Right to Read:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
"Read My Lips: No New AXES"
Seriously. Banning the creation of 'hacking tools' will only stop the 'cybercriminals' who obey the law.
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
Calling LulzSec! LulzSec to the information booth plz!
Despite what these talking heads think, the current onslaught of Corporate intrusions and customer data exposure will do more for public and private online security policy than 10 years of Government legislation or Corporate IT restructuring. Simply put, the Government failed to recognize the threat, and Corporations didn't take the threat seriously. That is, until they had their ass handed to them.
The blackhats will drag their sorry asses into the real world, kicking and screaming along the way. Information Security IS serious business. Especially when theres money involved, and customer data to be posted.
Here in Switzerland we already have such a law:
Art. 144bis
Damage to data
1. Any person who without authority alters, deletes or renders unusable data that is stored or transmitted electronically or in some other similar way shall on complaint be liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding three years or to a monetary penalty.
[..]
2. Any person who manufactures, imports, markets, advertises, offers or otherwise makes accessible programs that he knows or must believe will be used for the purposes described in paragraph 1 above, or provides instructions on the manufacture of such programs shall be liable to a custodial sentence not exceeding three years or to a monetary penalty.
If the offender acts for commercial gain, a custodial sentence of from one to five years may be imposed.
The way it is written even a program like rm would be illegal. Not that the law has been applied ever since it exists (AFAIK), but it's nonetheless completely ridiculous. Note that Germany also has a similar law in place.
These tools that people use for hacking can also be used by security professionals to test the security of the network. I assume that most security companies do use them, and so these governments pushing this through the EU will have to put all of their security contractors in jail. Hackers will have a field day then, and WikiLeaks will have more information than it knows what to do with!
At first i thought they should ban creationism, afterall its just another form of hacking the human mind.
But then i took things more seriously and came to the conclusion that all forms of electronic devices and a few other basic tools like screwdrivers, saw's, hamers and such should be banned, but that wasn't good for the best interest of the donations..err i mean EU citizens!
SOo... to improve our citizens well being they need to go even further and ban science and comunications altogether in any form of language be it math or traditional linguistics, these tools of piracy are the main pillar that help build hacking tools!
Oh Noe...i forgot its the human mind. Well then, lets ban humans altogether.
Im good at this, being a minister is hard work, but all we have to do is mess around with stuff we don't know anything about, and still get payed excedingly well, with all expenses covered on 5 star hotels!
So if you successfully pull this one off, then what's next?
Companies not allowed too manufacture... weapons because they can be used maliciously... vehicles because they can be used maliciously...
Retarded idea.
... EU Ministers ban the production of wire clothes hangers, screwdrivers, and hammers to stop car stereo thefts.
I8-D
The concept of banning "hacking tools" is just silly. What would these people consider a hacking tool? SSH terminals since they allow people to connect to compromised systems or to connect to machines with "hacker tools"? Or what about IRC servers since many bot networks have used them or offer the ability to let people talk about hacking?
Even some of the biggest "hacker tools" are used for real network and server analysis like winshark and the like.
This is simply the wrong approach to fix a problem. This is in fact the worst way to approach the problem. The real solution is to charge software companies for making insecure software. Don't fine the hackers for finding the exploits, fine the developers for not finding them. The software developers are the ones making money off the software, if they cause people to lose data or have their systems compromised they should be the ones that should be held responsible, not the person who found it.
Instead of trying to remove the ability to make "hacker tools" why not remove the ability or need of these tools by making more secure software. I guess that would be too easy though.
TruePunk | Games
The law itself is the abuse.
This seems to be a common theme where people fail to question the law itself, but merely the "potential for abuse" when the excess power "falls into the wrong hands".
Let's step back into reality: there are no right hands concerning the use of an unjust law. There can't be. It's illogical and impossible. Common sense tells us that the probability of an unjust law being used justly is zero.
So don't fall into the trap of giving them the benefit of the doubt. There is absolutely no good that can come from an unjust law, by definition. And they know it -- so they must come up with a runaround to fool you into accepting the unjust law. So why would a politician fight to pass an unjust law when he already knows it can't be used to achieve justice? Because achieveing justice wasn't the goal in the first place. It's not rocket science: The new law will bring yet even more power and revenue into the business of government, where the elite at the top of the pyramid can leverage that power and revenue for personal gain.
Ah yes, the EU. Bringing freedom to the people of Europe.
These people are complete morons. Anyone with Firefox and a couple HTML dev addons can perform the exact same hacks that have been going on against Sony, Software Companies, and FBI contractors. Who the fuck lets people with no understanding of the issue legislate it?
The onus of the hack rests SOLELY on the person managing the network, and not at all on the people who stumbled upon a URL that lets them see passwords and usernames. The problem part of 'hacking' is that you assume unauthorized access to a computer system. All of the information gained thus far has been gained through publicly-visible pages which requires no unauthorized access. By making a publicly-visible page(often indexed by Google) containing your sensitive information, it is YOU who should be going to jail for improper security measures.
Trying to make out like the hackers are evil geniuses is bullshit. I taught my 14 year old little sister how to modify a URL for directory traversal or SQL injection. It's simple shit that the developers should have taken care of, but were too lazy or understaffed/underpaid to complete. You should be thanking these people for pointing out your security shortcomings instead of knee-jerking all of the potentially useful development and anti-hacker tools out of existence.
If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can't be taken on its own merits
We have a law like that in Canada, only it has a provision that if you have a legal reason to create or use those tools you are fine.
So it must be proven that the tools are being created or used for criminal purposes in order to be prosecuted.
Another angle to this story is that it's yet another attempt by government at pre-crime.
The cops should stick to arresting people for the actual crimes they commit when hacking, like: unauthorized intrusion, damage to service, theft of data, etc. They don't need to ban tools that can be used for good or for bad. That's silly. Stay away from banning things further up the pipeline and focus on the actual crime itself. That gives the highest degree of freedom to the people, while giving government the narrowest and least necessary power.
This is akin to banning guns, for example, instead of sticking to the laws already on the books against assault or murder. Stick to the action that harms another party, and not whatever inanimate objects are involved.
"There were ways, of course, to get around the SPA and Central Licensing. They were themselves illegal. Dan had had a classmate in software, Frank Martucci, who had obtained an illicit debugging tool, and used it to skip over the copyright monitor code when reading books. But he had told too many friends about it, and one of them turned him in to the SPA for a reward (students deep in debt were easily tempted into betrayal). In 2047, Frank was in prison, not for pirate reading, but for possessing a debugger.
Dan would later learn that there was a time when anyone could have debugging tools. There were even free debugging tools available on CD or downloadable over the net. But ordinary users started using them to bypass copyright monitors, and eventually a judge ruled that this had become their principal use in actual practice. This meant they were illegal; the debuggers' developers were sent to prison.
Programmers still needed debugging tools, of course, but debugger vendors in 2047 distributed numbered copies only, and only to officially licensed and bonded programmers. The debugger Dan used in software class was kept behind a special firewall so that it could be used only for class exercises."
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
i mean, that's where it all originates from in the first place! what about command prompts? most hacking wouldn't possible be possible without those. but then again.. neither would my job... ...
besides, most of these tools double as IT and development aids (e.g. wireshark). further, what a few people use for malicious attacks other people use to understand where the loopholes are and close them. all this would accomplish is fewer people being educated about security and those who already know to operate with less obstacles...
yay for politicians who can probably barely use email making app dev laws!!
Ban those Linux live CDs. A "hacker" can use them to access files on a windows machine without knowing the password !
The problem is the people making decisions and coming up with these ideas have no clue how technology actually works. They don't realize that just because something can be used to hack into networks doesn't mean it can't serve a legit purpose. The same tools we use for security are used for hacking, that's the just the hard truth...It's kind of like saying lets ban the use and manufacturing of steak knifes because they can be use to kill people.
In physical security, you should always assume everyone has a lockpick. Likewise, in internet security you should assume everyone has metasploit, nmap, wireshark, etc. Building systems that are secure from cracking is not hard (protecting against a DDoS attack effectively is much more difficult). If you hire the cheapest external developers and contractors you can find to build your financial services website, don't be surprised if it's easily hacked. Good engineers should have no difficulty analyzing systems to find holes like this. If they understand the protocols and software they are working with, and avoid adding layer upon layer of "security software" that ends up obfuscating real holes while blocking non-existent problems (why would virus scanning text input be useful? Is your software really stupid enough to execute it?) then they'll have no problem writing secure software.
The problem from a business perspective, I think, is that an executive can't simply buy a product to secure their software. They instead must hire good engineers (potentially at a higher salary). In fact, there's a plethora of tools on the market for executives to buy which haven't been tested for security, and which can't be verified by internal developers but which are sold as speeding up development. Plus, of course security testing (like all testing) will always get shaved down to the minimum so that you can meet arbitrary release dates set by those who couldn't manage a Hello World program but think they understand development.
The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
Seems to convenient that LulzSec is attacking so many big name and government websites all of a sudden, Seems more likely that it's a little covert government intervention to make sure some new laws against hacking get passed by Europe, Canada, Japan and the USA. I don't put it past them. I have foil at home, but really, I didn't make a hat out of it....
Dumbass legislators: "Let's make posession of $THING a crime to prevent $BEHAVIOR!"
Sorry, it doesn't work, and it fscks over law abiding people for any values of $THING and $BEHAVIOR that I'm aware of.
Now nmap, tcpdump, telnet and the like will all be banned! :|
Oh, they said hacking tools. Great, no more C(++), java, assembly etc.
Well, i'll go back to lego now.
Damn! I guess I shouldn't have given them my name when I downloaded that compiler....
Soon they are going to break down your door, arrest you, and confiscate the small devices that program micro-controllers. Because you could use these same tools to commit a crime, therefore you are a criminal.
And do you think a jury is going to know the difference between hacking and cracking, or will they believe everything the prosecutor is saying and put you in prison for longer than if you killed a dozen babies?
As a network engineer and someone who uses BackTrack at least once a week for penetration testing, it is obvious to bme that the people who come up with these laws have no idea about anything related to the field of network and server security. Why are these morons making the decisions?
"I hope you know how very lucky you are to know me, because I am so incredibly incredible."
Guns, knives, cars, ropes, bullets, tight pants, ski-masks, fast shoes, electricity, plastic, computers, blah, blah, blah; all of which can be used maliciously to commit crimes.
The government, in every country, should mind their own business and stop trying to make the world a better place by passing regulations to stop things which they deem undesirable. Instead, they should pass regulation to make it easier to do anything which can help a dude make some money and provide for himself and his (or her) family, and let the market decide what it wants.
some 4000 years of recorded history or something like that and there were always criminals and there always will be. If you want to stop crime, don't make it illegal, make it undesirable when compared to some alternatives that achieve the same end: Not Dying.
fuck me
Thieves use them to smash shop windows.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
The legions of hackers are gathering, the news of lulzsec bring down international corporations for lulz is like wild flower, they have opened their IRC servers and the schools are already in action. There is a new wave of hackers coming, I believe its time to make a Hackers 2 film, we need a new Gibson. In the last year we have had a number of high profile hacking groups out there and my guess is more will be rising to the challenge soon.
The governments method to dealing with this is to create laws to cover the bullet wound, but do you think that is going to stop people? or just drive them deeper? If laws like this happen, expect the hacking community to go deeper in to the web, and watch their backlash, goverment have a fundimental flaw in their understsanding of technology and the ideals the web was built on, the internet is a system that is meant to with stand attacks re-reoute and carry on going, now we have govermetns saying that needs to change and have "points of control"
Anyway why the hell are governments on the internet anyway, the internet was primary a tool for sharing information, not running goverments on. I do not believe that any public own computer should be on the internet.
I got bored of writing this,,
Because banning handguns worked so well, as we all know.
this is what's happening when LOW IQ or non-IT persons are placed in strategic positions like ministerial one
Which one it would be?
Will I be a criminal for using nmap or wireshark? those are clearly hacking tools...oh wait... now they're weapons!
I just find this situation ridiculous
Regards
"European Ministers Are Morons".
Software developers are now illegal?
Hope is the currency of fools
When their ban includes every existing programming language and these guys can't play their Farmville...
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet." General James Mattis
From TFA:
'The draft mentions "malicious software designed to create botnets or unrightfully obtained computer passwords," but goes no further in attempting to clarify what "tools" might be subject to criminal sanctions.'
So, it seems like this bill is only focused on computer proggies running on a laptop, not hardhacks. In other words, the Bus Pirate, Chumby, Arduino, etc. crowds are all safe. Oh yeah...and I'm sure no one has ever written hardware executable code on any of these devices that could interfere with computer operation.
Man do I love it that governments are about 20 years behind the times when it comes to tech.
Basically law makers do not understand fully the ramifications of the decisions they are making. To say "Ban all hacking software" is really too generic to be useful but this only indicates the ignorance that this generation of law makers, most whom never grew up with computers, and never will understand the technology they use everyday to write the very pieces of ill contrived law.
However, as many slashdot posters stated before me, the sheer ignorance of this proposition just does not make sense on so many levels and to enforce such a law would be next to impossible. Although, it does give the law makers "someone to blame" if they can not go after the actually perpetrators. Let's just go after the person who wrote the software, that will fix everything. That is like going after the gun maker for a robber gunning down a store clerk. Of course the gun maker provided the tool for the robber to commit various nefarious acts, but it was the robbers choice on how to use the tool.
They should make it a criminal offense that the software you develop and sell is easily hackable.
...is now a felony. Whereas before it was just a misdemeanor.
How is this problematic? Since when has Europe been restricted from creating or enforcing laws which are ambiguous or overly broad? Or been restricted from having an executive that defines the actual law?
Europe may be better than America at many things, but a better system of government is not one of them.
I thought that the most important tools in this was always a brain, so if 'creation of hacking tools' is going to be made illegal, will it immediately extend to the real 'creation' of hacking tools and make fucking without protection illegal as well?
You can't handle the truth.
Yes if it is handled badly it will be a farce. Anyone can make something with Notepad, let alone any sort of programming language environment.
However I do recall back in my university days seeing things like VML (Virus Mutation Labs or something like that), which were basically just programs that would create virus based on what the user wished to do. Anyone with a mediocre knowlege could use it. This sort of thing is where script kiddies come from. Which is exactly the thing that commercial grade security and antivirus can defeat pretty easily (Norton and the rest).
Most other "hacker" tools such as "sniffers", and other network inspection tools have legitimate uses also and should not be targeted. To be honest, I don't anything they do will be of much deterrence to an actual hacker, as their knowlege is actually their weapon, not some tool or suite. Realistically many of the hackers probably work within a related field such as security or networking and as such would have ample tools and knowlege to do as they please.
This would likely help reduce the nuisance script kiddies, but really they are not the problem that is trying to be addressed, so then why even bother.
then you may consider tools!
a tool is a tool is a tool
somebody no knowing this is a fool
with a tool you can create and destroy in contrast to a weapon!
So dear minister, concentrate on weapons!
The big fear is that politicians have a tendancy to want to appear to be 'doing something' about a problem. Unfortunately they tend to move about like bulls in China Shops instead of like ballerinas in flower gardens. It must be put to them: banning all hammers because people can use them to break windows makes it bad for carpenters. Banning all cars because people can use them to commit crimes makes it difficult for people to get around. In short: a criminal offence is in itself a criminal act, and the tools used are not part of the crime. There are no criminal tools, otherwise along with compilers, text editors and web browsers, you have to ban automobiles, hammers, and anything else that could be used against someone or something, and you show prejudice for not including everything.
So would this make sendmail illegal?
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
Good info, thank you http://exercisesto-reducetummy.com/articles/abb-workouts/what-is-the-ideal-body-fat-to-see-your-abs/
Didn't germany once ban wireshark? I think they quickly reversed that
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
They should outlaw computers because computers are breeding grounds for computer viruses. No computers means no computer viruses! Hooray!
Does that mean Web Browsers will be banned. In a lot of cases thats the only "tool" needed now. I suggest actually training these "leaders" to some level of technical proficiency.
Here comes the worst decision possible.....can you make hack stuff using visual studio, of course you can, guess what, you now have made the use and selling of visual studio illegal.....they are such dolts its not funny! I hate politicians that have no knowledge of technology! They should have specialists following them around explaining them these things....we would have less wasted time at our costs (tax payers) over stupid things like this.
Why on Earth would they want to shut down those silly enough to publish such tools? These are wonderful education tools for those working the industry, fighting to keep hacker punks at bay. This would be like during the cold war if the Soviets published all of their weapons technologies, or the US for that matter. It would be giving the opposition a golden chance on a silver platter to gain quite the advantage.
Surely the intel people are going to advise these ministers STFU.
Take the Red Pill.