FBI Chief Calls Unbreakable Encryption 'Urgent Public Safety Issue' (reuters.com)

The inability of law enforcement authorities to access data from electronic devices due to powerful encryption is an "urgent public safety issue," FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Tuesday in remarks that sought to renew a contentious debate over privacy and security. From a report: The FBI was unable to access data from nearly 7,800 devices in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 with technical tools despite possessing proper legal authority to pry them open, a growing figure that impacts every area of the agency's work, Wray said during a speech at a cyber security conference in New York. "This is an urgent public safety issue," Wray added, while saying that a solution is "not so clear cut."

Comments

Another encryption ...

[CaptainDork]

... is our fucking brains.

"Our inability to get inside people's heads is an "urgent public safety issue."

Re:I'm not sure it is

[Archtech]

In fact the story goes back to 1975 (at least). That's when Diffie and Hellman found themselves battling the NSA, which wanted DES to be accepted as the encryption standard simply because NSA could crack it.

Sure

[HornyBastard]

I will use any encryption that you want me to use.
As long as you can prove to me that you use the same encryption for everything at the FBI.
If you are not willing to do that. GO FUCK YOURSELF

Why Not Try?

[bartle]

What puzzles me is, with all of the resources that the US federal government has at their disposal, why aren't they actually trying to crack encrypted phones?

As I understand it, the older iPhones could likely be cracked by desoldering a chio and interrogating it. The newer ones have their entire security apparatus encased in a single chip but I don't see why the chip couldn't be removed, disassembled, and its partial private key extracted. It's probably not something that could be done by hand and would probably involve contracting with a chip-fabricating outfit. The outlay costs would be enormous but once a "Federal Bureau of Device Recovery" was established and operational, they could make back money by cracking phones for state and local law enforcement.

It's just so strange because it seems likely that eventually other countries will have this capability, if they don't already. My guess is that if the FBI hasn't figured out how to crack encrypted iPhones themselves in the next 5 years, they'll be a company in Israel that will be happy to do it for them.

Down with the Fourth Amendment!

[mi]

this idea that some authority should have all the keys to the encryption kingdom

Much as I don't like this idea myself, it is not new.

The Fourth Amendment explicitly allows the Executive Branch — after securiing Judicial Branch's approval — to access all of our possessions and "effects". They have a right to do that, which no one seems to seriously dispute.

The strong encryption has given us the means to lock things up so that even the government can't get them — this part is new. Although they still have the right to read your data, they no longer have the ability to do it.

While this is something we individually celebrate, you can not denounce police complaints about this situation without also denouncing their well-established — and generally accepted — power to search all your other stuff.

Re:Down with the Fourth Amendment!

[hierofalcon]

While correct, you're missing the point. Ciphers have been around for a very, very long time. They weren't used as extensively in the past as they are today. But they've been around throughout history. A quick wikipedia search references Egyptian hieroglyphs for example. The technology progressed over time and the cost to break the encrypted text increased over time to what we have today.

Nonetheless, encrypted communications were available when the constitution was written and they were in use. Yet the constitution makes no mention of preventing the citizens from using encrypted communications or in forcing the users to decrypt the documents on demand.

The federal government gave itself the rights mentioned, but did not choose to worry about the technology of the day providing documents that they could see, but couldn't decrypt without a lot of work or the help of one of the parties on either end of the transmission. They had just fought a revolution against a government that employed big brother tactics (like garrisoning soldiers in people's homes). They didn't want the government doing any of that type of crap anymore.

The FBI and others might really wish today that the writers had considered encryption, but they didn't choose to. The writer's generation relied on spies and good old footwork to figure things out. They didn't rely solely on documents. Good for them.

Re:I'm not sure it is

[infolation]

Their meltdown backdoor's unavailable so it's time to legislate on front doors again.

Re:I'm not sure it is

[HornWumpus]

Because they are cops and that's what cops do? Adversarial system and all, they're supposed to reach (just not perjure themselves in the process).

It's not a big assumption at all. Assuming that all the applications were good is a HUGE assumption.

A public review (and prosecution for lying cops/prosecutors) is the only remedy at this point. Like I say, give them a couple of years to 'cool down', then it's off to jail for at least a few feds.

Lying to a fed is a crime. Feds lying to themselves _should_ be prosecuted.