US Congressional Committee Concludes Encryption Backdoors Won't Work (betanews.com)

"Any measure that weakens encryption works against the national interest," reports a bipartisan committee in the U.S. Congress. Mark Wilson quotes Beta News: The Congressional Encryption Working Group (EWG) was set up in the wake of the Apple vs FBI case in which the FBI wanted to gain access to the encrypted contents of a shooter's iPhone. The group has just published its end-of-year report summarizing months of meetings, analysis and debate. The report makes four key observations, starting off with: "Any measure that weakens encryption works against the national interest".

This is certainly not a new argument against encryption backdoors for the likes of the FBI, but it is an important one... The group says: "Congress should not weaken this vital technology... Cryptography experts and information security professionals believe that it is exceedingly difficult and impractical, if not impossible, to devise and implement a system that gives law enforcement exceptional access to encrypted data without also compromising security against hackers, industrial spies, and other malicious actors...
The report recommends that instead, Congress "should foster cooperation between the law enforcement community and technology companies," adding "there is already substantial cooperation between the private sector and law enforcement." [PDF] It also suggests that analyzing the metadata from "our digital 'footprints'...could play a role in filling in the gap. The technology community leverages this information every day to improve services and target advertisements. There appears to be an opportunity for law enforcement to better leverage this information in criminal investigations."

Comments

Disturbing.

[Gravis Zero]

While most people start thinking, "oh what a breath of fresh air, the government getting it right for once," I worry, "have aliens infiltrated our government? Because it seems like they are listening experts and making logical conclusions." ;)

Re:Disturbing.

[Areyoukiddingme]

... "have aliens infiltrated our government? Because it seems like they are listening experts and making logical conclusions."

I expect the experts testifying used illustrations in crayon and very small words. And they still got a weasel-worded statement from the committee. "Cryptography experts and information security professionals believe that it is exceedingly difficult and impractical, if not impossible, to devise and implement a system..." No, that's not what they said. Every single one of them said it is impossible. Because it is.

Congresses come and go, but there is one invariant: they all have trouble with mathematics.

Re:Disturbing.

[hawguy]

"Congresses come and go, but there is one invariant: they all have trouble with mathematics."

That's not saying much, most people have trouble with mathematics.

Most people aren't making Federal policy decisions related to science, math, and technology while being unversed in science, math, and technology.

A backdoor would be in the wild in a week

[HangingChad]

I think we've all seen how good the FBI is at keeping secrets. Any encryption backdoor would be in the wild in a week. In the week before it got loose it would be mostly a political weapon.

Re:by putting back doors in

[ShanghaiBill]

There are two fatal flaws in your reasoning:
1. You assume that "the police" and "the criminals" are disjoint sets.
2. You assume that innocent people have nothing to hide, and nothing to fear from the police.