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Harvard: No, Crypto Isn't Making the FBI Go Dark
Trailrunner7 writes: The FBI and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have warned for years that the increased use of encryption by consumers is making surveillance and lawful interception much more difficult, impeding investigations. But a new study by a group of experts at Harvard's Berkman Center says those claims are largely overblown and that the IoT revolution will give agencies plenty of new chances for clear-channel surveillance.
"We argue that communications in the future will neither be eclipsed into darkness nor illuminated without shadow. Market forces and commercial interests will likely limit the circumstances in which companies will offer encryption that obscures user data from the companies themselves, and the trajectory of technological development points to a future abundant in unencrypted data, some of which can fill gaps left by the very communication channels law enforcement fears will 'go dark' and beyond reach," the Berkman Center report says.
"We argue that communications in the future will neither be eclipsed into darkness nor illuminated without shadow. Market forces and commercial interests will likely limit the circumstances in which companies will offer encryption that obscures user data from the companies themselves, and the trajectory of technological development points to a future abundant in unencrypted data, some of which can fill gaps left by the very communication channels law enforcement fears will 'go dark' and beyond reach," the Berkman Center report says.
You'd think that all that Ivy League brainpower would be able to figure out that the FBI's empty posturing is exactly that. Of course, it's also very possible that its kabuki all the way down.
Rule 35 of the internet: "If it can be hacked, it will be". - Charles Stross