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Feds Allegedly Demanding User Passwords From Services
An anonymous reader writes "Following the /. story on the Feds demanding SSL keys, now comes news that the feds are demanding user passwords, and in some cases, the encryption algorithm and salt used. From the article: 'A second person who has worked at a large Silicon Valley company confirmed that it received legal requests from the federal government for stored passwords. Companies "really heavily scrutinize" these requests, the person said. "There's a lot of 'over my dead body.'" ... Some of the government orders demand not only a user's password but also the encryption algorithm and the so-called salt, according to a person familiar with the requests. ... Other orders demand the secret question codes often associated with user accounts.' I'm next expecting to see the regulation or law demanding that all users use plain text for all web transactions, to catch terrorists and for the children."
... of which The Declaration of Independence, The US constitution and Bill or Rights are.
Most notably is The Declaration fo Independence that makes it clear it is not only our right but duty to put off bad government.
And that is all the response any Founder supporting company need supply any spying government agency.
Its time to show who is a real US Citizen.
As sad as it is, I have to agree. This doesn't surprise me one bit. I mean, investigating is hard! Can't have criminals hide behind things like strong encryption! Ergo, no one can use encryption.
That said, I'm hoping we're slowly getting to a tipping point on the entire privacy vs security discussion. 9/11 has happened long ago enough that the knee-jerk reactions are dying down, and people are starting to question what we're doing in order to make sure 3000 people don't die over the course of a few years.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
1. A company shouldn't have my password stored anywhere in a form that they can decrypt it.
2. A company shouldn't have the answers to my security questions stored anywhere in a form that they can decrypt it.
That makes it very easy then: "We would gladly comply with your request, but sorry, we can't".
I've always wondered... what stops people from issuing fake FISA orders? I mean, if anyone challenges them, you just say they don't have the clearance. FISA *IS* catch-22.
You can't even go after someone issuing such an order with "impersonating a federal officer" -- as unless you're the President of the US, /how would you know/?
I imagine a terror group could make a pretty quick job of any public works under the guise of FISA.
About these penetrations. You would think there would be daily broadcasts from anonymous or somebody indicating which systems have been hacked by the government. Its like people arent talking about it much at all.