[Nottingham] Back doors in encryption

[Denny]

Government policies such as this should give us cause to celebrate.  It
could be interpreted to mean that the state of the art in encryption is
sufficient that well implemented encryption is indeed opaque, at least
in the current environment.  This is less an attack against encryption
and more an attack against the PKI, after all, how does one attack
mathematics?  PKI isn't the only tool in the tool box.

I struggle to understand why, in a world where we still depend on
ineffective password management without 2FA, this is such a big deal. 
There are so many other IT security issues "in the wild" that have
little or nothing to do with encryption that are in my opinion much
higher priority.  We are being lead to believe that if we put a security
door on a greenhouse the security will be improved.  I suspect that
self-serving popular media has created a tempest in a teacup, a vector
for further weakening our confidence in elected officials and Western
governments.

I'm no jurist so I'm unqualified to evaluate or even understand this
draft bill.  From what little I've read on the subject, it appears to be
more of an update or reassertion of current legislation.  If that is the
case then this isn't a seismic change but a evolutionary process.  I'd
be much more concerned if there were inadequate checks and balances in
the process uncovered.  Personally, I think that occasionally,
parliament and congress table bills such as this to test public opinion,
with the intent to calibrate strategic policy.  I'm not sure how I feel
about this practice if it is indeed the case.

Denny

On 05/11/15 10:45, T.J long thing wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> Some of you are probably aware of the government ignoring advice that
> putting a back door in security is a bad idea. Here's a link to the
> register
>
> Www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/03/uk_government_policeproof_encryption/
>
> In response someone has started a petition here
> Https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/106369
>
> Tom
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nottingham mailing list
> Nottingham at mailman.lug.org.uk
> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/nottingham

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