Slashdot Mirror
Putin Gives Federal Security Agents Two Weeks To Produce 'Encryption Keys' For The Internet (gawker.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has ordered the Federal Security Service (FSB) to produce "encryption keys" to decrypt all data on the internet, and the FSB has two weeks to do it, Meduza reports. The head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, is responsible for accomplishing such a task. "The new 'anti-terrorist' laws require all 'organizers of information distribution' that add 'additional coding' to transmitted electronic messages to provide the FSB with any information necessary to decrypt those messages," reports Meduza. "It's still unclear what information exactly online resources are expected to turn over, given that all data on the internet is encoded, one way or another, and in many instances encryption keys for encrypted information simply don't exist." Some of the details of the executive order include requiring telecom providers and "organizers of information distribution" to store copies of the content of all information they transmit for six months and store the metadata for three years so the Kremlin can access it whenever they want. In order for that to happen, ISPs would need to build new data centers capable of holding all that information and buy imported equipment, all without state subsidies, where they risk going bankrupt. To actually operate the data centers, the Russian government would need to upgrade Russia's outdated electrical grid and cables, which could cost between $30 and $77 billion. What about the "encryption keys?" In addition to storing all the transmitted information, "organizers of information distribution" have to turn over "any information necessary to decrypt those messages." Therefore, "additional coding" will need to be added to all electronic messages to act as instructions for the FSB to "decode" them. Many services and websites don't have "keys" or are fundamentally unsharable, like banks and financial institutions. Nearly all electronic information needs to be "encoded" in some way. Bortnikov has two weeks and the clock starts now. Good luck!
There is no such thing as keys that would decrypt "all data on the internet", which hopefully everyone here already knows. Empty, dead, pointless parody of law. The war on encryption is doomed to fail
What was the old saying in Tsarist Russia? Something like, "If 5 people get together to plot revolution, what you have is one revolutionary and four police informants." We are not talking about a country that has ever really been free since the earliest Viking settlements in places like Moscow. Hundreds of years of autocracy or oligarchy. What else would they produce politically but Putin and an encryption ban?
not that putin is a good guy. nor is his new law, and his orders based on that, good. he and it are evil things. though law at least is merely an attempt to give russian government same powers as usa government. definition of evil.
anyway this summary and gawker article exaggerate to absurdity in order to vilify russians in every way possible, and seems to assume total ignorance on the part of readers. (to be expected from gawker but not from /.).
there are much more knowledgeable and rational critiques of putin and his law elsewhere, /. should have posted using them. /. wants?
but maybe instead of knowledgeable discussion, it is gawker like ignorant popularity that
Terrorism is king. It trumps privacy or freedom.
The west has been using this justification for many years now and it would seem that Russia too last learned that to justify anything Orwellian, all you need to say is "because terrorism." Case closed.
Many reasons:
-Trying to oust Bortnikov, for when he inevitably fails Putin has a reason to toss him or large parts of the FSB out.
-Justification for giving them (FSB) more funding or more powers to accomplish these goals (as a result of inability to accomplish goals with current resources).
-It could also be to create a large effort in the FSB with the rationale that the FSB will have no choice to resort to heavy handed tactics, which will them be targeted at institutions and/or ISP's that through "random coincidence" have slighted Putin somehow.
But yes, Putin is very smart--and also very shrewd.
Maybe because if Putin is assassinated, it only empowers someone even worse to stroll up and say "see, this is why we need to be even stronger and more secure". Maybe. I'm not an expert.
Possibilities in order of likelihood
1) This reporting is wildly inaccurate, and misses key details, like for example only part of the implantation must be completed in two weeks or similar.
2) Putin is doing this for political cover, he has intelligence there is going to be another terror attack in Russia or one of its surrogates. The intel is not good enough to prevent it, but he wants to look like he is 'doing something'. The argument will be if only people had got out of his way an let him do this sooner the tragedy would have been avoided. It both bolsters his strongman persona and gives an excuse to expanding executive power.
3) Putin is created a legal excuse to punish people who are otherwise political enemies, noncompliance with this new law will provide a legal cover an a veneer of legitimacy.
4) Putin is perfectly aware this is impossible but it will produce a flurry of activity from people who will be trying desperately to save the careers by at least appearing to comply in good faith, in hopes others will take the blame for the obvious eventual failure. Putin plans to utilize all this activity as a distraction to enable some other covert objective to be completed.
5) Putin has totally left the reservation.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
and in many instances encryption keys for encrypted information simply don't exist
Ahh keyless encryption: for when you really don't care to ever get the data back.
Many keys are ephemeral. Once the information has been received and acknowledged, both parties discard their keys. If you intercept one of these messages, no one will ever have a way of decrypting it. The only way to get the information is to double back and beat it out of one of them.
ISPs fail to have this system in place within 14days. Putin "takes over" all internet providers, claiming full share ownership of them.
See - Russian Oil, coal, gas, solar, farms, manufacturing, Processor Manufacturer (MCST) etc. All now 100% owned by Putin.
My theory: journalists are too stupid to report foreign affairs properly. We already saw how they were led around by the nose by Obama's staff for years, and reported government-approved narratives instead of facts. They are just deeply ignorant people who have no business being in the jobs they're in. Sad but true.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
This sort of thing backfired on Germany before. After all, one Adolf Hitler was employed by the German security services to infiltrate a certain of far right extremists, and the rest, shall we say, was history.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Sorry, but you're 100% wrong. Mainstream news media have unfailingly supported the corporate viewpoint for years. The trend started when TV news brought the Vietnam War into America's living rooms, and the so-called "Silent Majority" turned on the corporate money machine and forced an end to that war. That would not be allowed to happen again. Concentration of ownership ensued, and we now have only a handful of major voices left...and they're all singing from the same songbook.
Anybody who believes ground-level journalists have any control over what they're allowed to report is utterly naive.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Superman? This is the Internet. It's more like announcing that all cats in Russia will be herded into a single pen located at the FSB. They don't have the pen built, they don't know where all the cats are or how many of them there are, and the cats are unlikely to be cooperative.
Get it done in 2 weeks.