Privacy Under Fire: The Real Motives Behind the Rhetoric

By Ava McKinneyOnline Safety

Privacy Under Fire: The Real Motives Behind the Rhetoric

@iskatel007 — June 30, 2019

Happy weekend, friends! I wanted to share some interesting information. Everything happening around the issue of privacy in our country reminds me of the movie Enemy of the State (the 1998 film starring Will Smith). The movie is already 21 years old, but today we are moving in exactly the same direction as in the film. Once again, beautifully stated goals are being used to cover up the real objective: total control and manipulation. By the way, if you haven’t seen this movie, I highly recommend it—it will likely earn a spot in your film collection.

What’s Happening Now?

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is lobbying for the possibility of banning end-to-end encryption used in services like:

  • iMessage
  • FaceTime
  • WhatsApp (in my opinion, this is just PR—WhatsApp never really had true end-to-end encryption, only the illusion of protection for users)
  • Signal
  • and others

According to the newspaper Politico, this topic was the main focus at a National Security Council meeting this Wednesday.

“Senior Trump administration officials met to discuss whether to create a law banning tech companies from using forms of encryption that prevent law enforcement from accessing user information. This would be a provocative move, reigniting the long-standing feud between federal authorities and Silicon Valley.”

Reportedly, two legislative options were discussed at the meeting:

  • To publicly release a statement and the government’s general position on encryption, saying they will continue working on a solution
  • Or to directly ask Congress to pass a law

No final decision was made at this meeting. The Department of Justice and the FBI argue that catching criminals and terrorists should be the top priority, even if simplified encryption creates hacking risks for users. The Departments of Commerce and State disagree, pointing to the economic and diplomatic consequences of mandatory “backdoors” (special access for the “big brothers”).

For now, all we can do is watch and see where this “movement” will ultimately lead…

Prepared by: @iskatel007
Private Detective / Security Analyst / Information Security Specialist

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