Manhattan DA Pressures Google and Apple To Kill Zero Knowledge Encryption (thestack.com)

An anonymous reader writes: In a speech to the 6th Annual Financial Crimes and Cybersecurity Symposium, New York County District Attorney for Manhattan Cyrus Vance Jr. has appealed to the tech community — specifically citing Google and Apple — to "do the right thing" and end zero-knowledge encryption in mobile operating systems. Vance Jr. praised FBI director James Comey for his 'outspoken' and 'fearless' advocacy against zero knowledge encryption, and uses the recent attacks on Paris as further justification for returning encryption keys to the cloud, so that communications providers can once again comply with court orders.

Comments

Re: Paris terrorists used regular SMS

[Anonymous Coward]

But they did use text speak, so I say let's ban teenagers

New Headline

[PvtVoid]

"Manhattan DA Pushes for Zero Knowledge Policy"

You're welcome.

Re:Paris terrorists used regular SMS

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly French needs to be banned. Maybe ban SMSs too.

Re:Except they used regular SMS

[swillden]

While I'm ambivalent about Zero Knowledge Encryption

Personally, I'd really like to have an opinion on "zero knowledge encryption", but I can't figure out what the hell it is. From context I infer that he's using the term to describe device encryption, as done on Android and iOS. I know what that is, and wholeheartedly support it.

But I have no idea where this "zero knowledge encryption" label came from or what it's intended to actually mean. I know what zero-knowledge proofs are, and they're really cool, but they have nothing to do with device encryption.

I've got it! He's using the phrase "zero knowledge" to describe his understanding of encryption.