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Germany Preparing Law for Backdoors in Any Type of Modern Device (bleepingcomputer.com)

Catalin Cimpanu, writing for BleepingComputer: German authorities are preparing a law that will force device manufacturers to include backdoors within their products that law enforcement agencies could use at their discretion for legal investigations. The law would target all modern devices, such as cars, phones, computers, IoT products, and more. Officials are expected to submit their proposed law for debate this week, according to local news outlet RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland (RND). The man supporting this proposal is Thomas de Maiziere, Germany's Interior Minister, who cites the difficulty law enforcement agents have had in past months investigating the recent surge of terrorist attacks and other crimes.

38 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Define by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 2

    "Legal"
    Good luck on that, it's a slippery idea that is resistant to being pigeonholed.

    --
    So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
    1. Re: Define by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If we lose all personal privacy, then the terrorists have won.

    2. Re: Define by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Incorrect. The only people that lose are people who are not terrorists. Terrorists will simply use methods which are 100% immune to this law - which are plentiful. The end result, as with gun control, is that the only people who lose are good, lawful people. In the end, the only winners are tyrants and terrorists - and the stupid who believe the easily invalidated propaganda.

      Not to mention it means that these devices become engineered to facilitate hacking. Which now means everyone is now vulnerable to blackmail, extortion, kidnapping, or simply exploitation, and any number of other crimes. Again, bringing us full circle that the only winners are tyrants and terrorists.

      Only the very ignorant, very stupid, or very evil, support this type of move. As for Merkel, it's because she's very evil. She openly advocates the murder and displacement (even complete replacement) of the German people. Just as Obama and Hillary advocate for America - and all the other evil, globalist leaders in the Western world are currently doing.

    3. Re: Define by meerling · · Score: 5, Insightful

      NOBODY in security EVER thinks a backdoor is a good thing!
      They are a MASSIVE vulnerability just waiting to get cracked, and if they are mandatory, all it takes is a single slip and that entire group is totally unprotected!
      It's not a question of IF it will be used and abused, but simply WHEN

      Sorry for the caps, but I really wanted to highlight those specific words to get across the point to some of the readers.

    4. Re: Define by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      Terrorists will simply use methods which are 100% immune to this law - which are plentiful.

      So will plenty of other people. They can simply drive across the nearest border to buy their phone in Denmark, Poland, Netherlands, etc. That isn't far since Germany is tiny, smaller than California. It would fit into Texas twice. So this will hurt the German economy, but otherwise have little effect on anyone with anything to hide.

    5. Re:Define by Mikkeles · · Score: 2

      East Germany has won over West Germany!

      News at 1100!

      --
      Great minds think alike; fools seldom differ.
    6. Re: Define by asylumx · · Score: 4, Funny

      bold and italics do work here, just FYI.

    7. Re: Define by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 3, Insightful

      EU.

      How much you willing to bet that if Germany succeeds here, they'll push for an EU-wide version?

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    8. Re: Define by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      First if all that are not Nazi laws.

      Like in Germany you can only buy short wave radios with approved frequencies, on the other side of the border these same radios can receive anything.
      That is nonsense, radio licenses are regulated very similar all over Europe. In some countries you dont need a license, but the radios are just the same.

      The recent banning of child toys with WIFI capabilities was based on this Nazi law, not because of the frequencies used but based on what the radio waves were used for.
      That is nonse. Double nonsense, as there is no ban.
      The concerns and investigations are about illegal survilence, and that has noothing to do with the frequeencies. Survilence is always illegal, unless authorized by a court. And that included putting survilence devices into your kids rooms.
      Same law for everyone, you stupid idiot. Parents are not extemot from the law. Wow, that is Nazi country, yeah yeah ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    9. Re: Define by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Funny

      NOBODY in security EVER thinks a backdoor is a good thing! They are a MASSIVE vulnerability just waiting to get cracked, and if they are mandatory, all it takes is a single slip and that entire group is totally unprotected! It's not a question of IF it will be used and abused, but simply WHEN

      Fixed it for you.

    10. Re: Define by quenda · · Score: 3, Insightful

      as with gun control, is that the only people who lose are good, lawful people.

      Germany is not the US. Sure organised criminals can obtain guns, but you have very little chance of being shot when stumbling across a burglar in places like Germany. I call that a win.

    11. Re: Define by david_thornley · · Score: 2

      The frightening thin is that there really isn't such evidence. People all over like authoritarianism.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  2. Ok.. by Drathos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why not ban all security on devices while you're at it?

    --
    End of line..
  3. if I were GeegawCo, I'd pull out by swschrad · · Score: 2

    deliver notice to the regulators proposing this that GeegawCo would cease operating in Germany, including any network/remote/cloud operations, if this were enacted. ship the money back home and dump 'em.

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
    1. Re:if I were GeegawCo, I'd pull out by Mr307 · · Score: 2

      Seems like the responsible thing to do, could even couch it in a "we respect and value our customers and dont want them to be at risk" type message.

      If it were a large enough entity it could cause a kerfuffle or if there were enough of them willing to leave, could be even more interesting. No doubt some competitor with less principles will fill the market, its easily big enough for most manufacturing scales depending on the gadget.

      Almost want them to follow through with this kind of crazy, could be a fantastic litmus test, instantly see which companies dont have the general publics actual interests in mind.

  4. Obligatory Stasi remark by dyfet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And I had thought east germany had joined west germany, not the other way around...

    1. Re:Obligatory Stasi remark by blahplusplus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      And I had thought east germany had joined west germany, not the other way around...

      All states are at war with their respective publics, see this comment by former national security advisor. It's the rich vs the rest.

      Citizens called a "global menace" here by former national security advisor of the US:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ZyJw_cHJY

      Our brains are much worse at reality and thinking than thought. See the manufacturing consent videos when you get the time. Science on reasoning:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ

      Crisis of democracy

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYFxtNgOeiI

      Book:

      http://trilateral.org/download/doc/crisis_of_democracy.pdf

      Protectionism for the rich and big business by state intervention, radical market interference.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

      Wikileaks

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABDiHspTJww&feature=youtu.be

      Manufacturing consent:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwU56Rv0OXM

      https://vimeo.com/39566117

    2. Re:Obligatory Stasi remark by blahplusplus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Call me old-fashioned but I can't help considering someone ridiculous who apparently gets all his knowledge from Youtube videos. No matter what message you've got, I didn't even check it and don't care, try reading some books first. You can find them in the library.

      Uhh you do know the first video is former national security advisor of the united states? AKA someone with serious foreign policy credibility, he's been giving speeches everywhere and talking about his concern for the political awakening of the publics of the world. The reality is the rich are exploiting everyone else and that has elites concerned because it's starting to become obvious the elites have always been robbing the world and the rule of law is a myth. That's the reality, otherwise he wouldn't call the political awakening of the masses a "menace", aka a menace to their profits.

      In his 1970 book Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era, Brzezinski wrote the following.

      "The technetronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities."

      Between two ages

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski

      From war is a racket:

      "I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil intersts in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."[p. 10]

      "War is a racket. ...It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." [p. 23]

      "The general public shoulders the bill [for war]. This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations." [p. 24]

      General Butler is especially trenchant when he looks at post-war casualties. He writes with great emotion about the thousands of traumatised soldiers, many of who lose their minds and are penned like animals until they die, and he notes that in his time, returning veterans are three times more likely to die prematurely than those who stayed home.

      War is a racket

      He wrote this on american empire, aka the rich (big business) vs the rest of mankind.

      The grand chessboard

      The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives

      Grand chessboard user review

  5. Has anybody told them they're idiots? by Baron_Yam · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The first people to get the backdoors will be cops.

    The second people will the in organized crime. It'll only take one bad law enforcement employee on their payroll to leak it... and THAT is just if there's some kind of key involved. The system itself will be public before the first device is even sold, since the standards will have to be given to the manufactures and they're going to leak like sieves.

    Then you'll have a nation of devices that are completely untrustworthy. In theory... because in practice this is so obviously too stupid to work that they can't possibly go forward with it.

    1. Re:Has anybody told them they're idiots? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      " In theory... because in practice this is so obviously too stupid to work that they can't possibly go forward with it."

      And people pacifying themselves with sentiments like these are how these theories are put into practice.

    2. Re:Has anybody told them they're idiots? by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 2

      Here I thought Germany had it's collective head screwed on straight. Boy was I ever wrong, I guess.
      The most dangerous and troubling thing about this: If it gets passed in Germany, it'll be considered precedent in other countries (like the U.S.). In a world where all data security is compromised, there won't be any security for anyone (except the cops, maybe the military, and definitely THE RICH). At that point there won't be any reason to own a cellphone beyond the cheapest clamshell dumbphone, a computer of any kind, or have Internet access, because EVERYTHING will be Open Season. Also if your car can be remotely controlled, you'll be taking your life in your hands every time you get in it; may as well start riding a bike.

      I still have a hard time believing how fucktarded people in general are getting, that it's all come to this. :-(

  6. Re:Attach a rider by gnick · · Score: 3, Funny

    Kicked in? More like built for a skeleton key. Of course, the key and all copies will be labeled "Law Enforcement Use Only."

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  7. Good! by Kenja · · Score: 2, Insightful

    SOMETHING has to slow down the German economy before they own us all. Chasing out all technology would do it.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:Good! by jedidiah · · Score: 2

      > SOMETHING has to slow down the German economy before they own us all. Chasing out all technology would do it.

      Calm yourself there Mr. Little.

      The "German work ethic" already makes the world safe for the rest of us.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    2. Re:Good! by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2

      SOMETHING has to slow down the German economy before they own us all.

      The trick to success is NOT to drag everyone around you down, it's to life yourself up. Weakening Germany won't really improve things for others.

      Notice that even bombing them into ruin 75 years ago didn't work all that well....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  8. Re:Germany has better things to do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I like how people don't understand that "meddling" is part and parcel of great power politics. The people screeching "Russia! Russia! Russia!" are also the ones who were silent when O did exactly this to Netanyahu.

  9. Re:FTFY by networkBoy · · Score: 2

    or cars...

    --
    whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
  10. Intel Management Engine (ME) by zaax · · Score: 2

    Intel Management Engine (ME), also known as the Manageability Engine. Intel have been putting a back door on their chips for the last 10 years at least. So what are law enforement worrying about?

  11. Preparing a law? by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    I doubt it. They don't even have a government yet.
    Nobody knows what and if a coalition will be formed.
    There might be new elections.
    This is nothing else but bullshit.

  12. Re:NN's Ultimate Purpose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Law enforcement has had and always should have the ability to listen in the middle just like they do with phone lines.

    First, there is no reason wiretapping should always be an option.
    Second, and much more important. WITH A WARRANT! Not this insane "at their discretion" logic, only when investigation of a crime suggests that such forms of espionage would provide useful evidence in a less intrusive or destructive manner than alternatives.

  13. Re:NN's Ultimate Purpose by thaylin · · Score: 2

    That is a pretty big conspiracy . Title 2 has both good and bad aspects, letting the ISPs fark us over is just 100% bad. Claiming the purpose behind it is differnt then all the stated purposes is just for that one is pretty silly..

    In fact the FCC did not even need title 2 to do so, they did it in 2005 and the courts agreed that even though they were not title 2 carriers they could still fall under CALEA, so moving them to title 2 is not an issue with that.

    --
    When you cant win, ad hominem.
  14. Re:Can’t work, except with small-time stupid by vux984 · · Score: 2

    The flipside, is that they don't need to access the criminals communications, they can simply prosecute them for having communications they can't access. Because THAT will be illegal now.

  15. Re:Attach a rider by meerling · · Score: 2

    Being government mandated, it'll have to be usable by the dumbest of bureaucrats, so a hairpin would probably work.

  16. Re:NN's Ultimate Purpose by WaffleMonster · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is the ultimate purpose behind placing ISPs under Title II in order to place them under CALEA requirements which could easily be interpreted to require exactly the same kind of 'back doors' on devices.

    And of course any such interpretation would be factually incorrect.

    CALEA was applied to ISPs in 2005. Title II classification would not arrive for another decade.

    CALEA applies to telecommunications service providers only. It does not apply to software and hardware vendors. It does not compel service providers to hand over keys they don't have or restrict the activities of users. It does not mandate the installation of back doors into anything except the infrastructure of telecommunications service providers.

    The propaganda has worked so well we have people violently protesting to have their own privacy taken away.

    At least get your facts straight before posting provably false information. There are plenty of valid reasons to disapprove of CALEA and criticize U.S. government for it.

  17. Re:Unlikely this will pass by gweihir · · Score: 2

    It will. But it is highly alarming that the fascistoid politicians pushing for this will not stop, but try again and again. It will likely not even get passed in the first place, and if it does, it will very likely get killed by the Bundesverfassungsgericht, i.e. on federal level. It has no chance at all on EU level, should it come to that.

    In the end, this law would sabotage society and far worse so than any amount of terrorism ever could. It is essentially Zersetzung, as it undermines trust and that is the critical thing that keeps a society together and working.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  18. Thomas, I usually sell good IT security advice by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    because my job. This one's free. First of all, I might eventually be affected by that bullshit if it spreads and second, it's always a pleasure belittling you and showing you just how big an idiot you really are.

    First and foremost, there is no such thing as a "government only" backdoor. A backdoor is or is not. A backdoor that MUST be in EVERY device, independent of maker and the kind of device is by definition a high profile target for every hacker on this planet. Everyone wants to have that. That includes every state actor. I.e. other nations WILL want to have that backdoor. Now, of course you might share it with friends. It's unlikely that you want to share it with states like, say, North Korea or that Daesh idiots (that's ISIS for you, in case you didn't keep up with the news). Yes, Thomas, you're about to give terrorists a tool to invade German devices.

    Way to go, aren't you supposedly at least kinda-sorta responsible for the internal security of the state?

    How they get it you ask? Are you kidding? We're talking about the universal key to EVERY computer in your country. Every private, every corporate, every government system. You think a state actor (especially a rogue state actor) would shy away from kidnapping someone's family if he as much as MIGHT have access to the relevant keys? Here's your wife, Thomas, here is your kids. Hand over the keys and don't talk about it or, well, I spare you the details.

    And even worse, you won't get what you want to get, Thomas. Because you don't think that anyone outside of Germany would as much as touch a device with a "German backdoor" installed, do you? Twice so if a state actor. No. Outside of Germany, you'll get secure devices (well, more or less... but at least not deliberately insecured ones). It is trivial, not only to me because that's what I do for a living, but to everyone with at least a minimum knowledge of IT to diff a "good" and one of your "bad" devices to see what's different between them. And what's different between them is your backdoor. It is now also trivial to patch such a security hole in a way that you'll be locked out again. And you can rest assured that every terrorist on the planet will make sure to plug that and lock you out.

    Thomas. Again. Usually, I sell good advice. This one is actually free. Stop that idiocy before it costs you your job. I kinda like your party. Even though you're a grade A moron.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Thomas, I usually sell good IT security advice by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      The whole shit flies out the window the second the device gets rooted. And you can rest assured that this is the first thing anyone with nefarious intent will do. Make it illegal? Fuck, do people planning to blow themselves to kingdom come give half a shit about a law concerning their phone? What do you want to do, arrest him? We're still talking about someone willing to blow himself up, to kill himself. You think he gives half a shit about your laws?

      What you'd have to do is make rooting a phone illegal. On what grounds? Getting something like this past their constitutional court is highly unlikely. Twice so from a party that considers private property sacrosanct, he simply won't have the backing of the rest of his government for something like this, no matter how much he stomps his foot and mutters "but terrists!". But again, even if you make it illegal, nobody would give a shit.

      I know what he wants. I also know that he cannot get it.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  19. Chill. Headline isn't entirely correct. by Qbertino · · Score: 2

    A source claims Thomas de Maizière would like to have backdoors in popular apps. That doesn't mean he'll get them or, as a matter of fact, that the Bundestag will pass a law to make those mandatory. Since the Third Reich Germany has been, shall I say, a tad sensitive on the invulnerability of privacy in mail and telecommunications. I doubt he'd get it through the Bundestag let alone past supreme court.

    It's just a German gouvernment official probing the waters machiavelli style. Just like in the US. No news here. Move along.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca