Obama administration wants encryption backdoors for domestic surveillance

[Golly, this is major fucked-up-edness. Resist this one, please. -e]

Obama administration wants encryption backdoors for domestic surveillance: "

In a New York Times article today by Charlie Savage, news that the Obama administration is proposing new legislation that would provide the U.S. Government with direct access to all forms of digital communication, 'including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct 'peer to peer' messaging like Skype.'

Sound familiar? As Glenn Greenwald points out in his Salon analysis piece,

In other words, the U.S. Government is taking exactly the position of the UAE and the Saudis: no communications are permitted to be beyond the surveillance reach of U.S. authorities. The new law would not expand the Government's legal authority to eavesdrop -- that's unnecessary, since post-9/11 legislation has dramatically expanded those authorities -- but would require all communications, including ones over the Internet, to be built so as to enable the U.S. Government to intercept and monitor them at any time when the law permits. In other words, Internet services could legally exist only insofar as there would be no such thing as truly private communications; all must contain a 'back door' to enable government officials to eavesdrop.

On Twitter last night, Ryan Singel pointed out this relevant snip from a National Research Council report rejecting the idea of mandated backdoors in encryption... in 1996.

It is true that the spread of encryption technologies will add to the burden of those in government who are charged with carrying out certain law enforcement and intelligence activities. But the many benefits to society of widespread commercial and private use of cryptography outweigh the disadvantages.

And the lack of backdoors doesn't seem to have put much of a damper on domestic surveillance, anyway:

Law enforcement officials have long warned that encryption technology allows criminals to hide their activities, but investigators encountered encrypted communications only one time during 2009's wiretaps. The state investigators told the court that the encryption did not prevent them from getting the plain text of the messages.

Read the NYT piece: U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet.

And this CNET piece by Declan McCullagh, who's been covering this beat for longer than anyone I know, is an equally essential read. Snip:

Vice President Joe Biden proposed something quite similar in the 1990s. As I wrote in an earlier article, when Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden introduced an anti-encryption bill called the Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Act. It said: 'It is the sense of Congress that providers of electronic communications services and manufacturers of electronic communications service equipment shall ensure that communications systems permit the government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law.' It was Biden's bill--and the eventual threat of encryption being outlawed--that Phil Zimmermann said at the time 'led me to publish PGP electronically for free that year.'

Update: ACLU reaction here. 'Mandating that all communications software be accessible to the government is a huge privacy invasion.'

[Image: Code, a Creative Commons-licensed image from Anonymous Collective]

"

God tells guy to build really, really, really large treehouse

God tells guy to build really, really, really large treehouse: "

Boing Boing reader John Hudgens says,

Years ago, Horage Burgess prayed and received divine inspiration. He says that God told him 'If you build be a treehouse, I'll see that you never run out of material.'

And so Horace started building... and building... and 15 years later, he's still going.

The tree house is now 97 feet tall, supported by a living 80-foor tall white oak, with six other oaks for support. It currently has ten floors, and a belltower.

My girlfriend and I went there this weekend, and I've posted photos to Flickr.

View the entire Flickr set.

(via BB Submitterator)

"

The insect highways in the sky

The insect highways in the sky: "

In this world, we humans are but hobos, living beneath several layers of insect interstate highway. On any given summer day, there are three billion bugs in the air above our heads.

This video from NPR explains what they're all doing up there.

Via the Bug Girl blog

"

Foam printer makes floating foam shapes

Foam printer makes floating foam shapes: "

I don't know anything about this foam printer -- it appears to be creating very crisp forms out of soap (?) bubbles, which are then lofted into the air. The printer was apparently on display at IFA Berlin. Anyone know more? Hit the comments.

Foam Printer

(via Beyond the Beyond)

• Flying carpet sofa


• PARC: What's w/the Shagadelic Carpet & Beanbag Chairs?


• What shall we do with a carpet sample?


• Carpet with built-in cable conduit


• Cowhide rug made out of vintage carpet


• Carpets that look like countries and continents


• HOWTO trick your printer into using ALL its ink


• Working Lego printer adorned with minifigs


• Cheap, portable personal 3D printer: the UP!


• HP to spam your web-connected printer


• Turn an inkjet into a 3D printer


• HOWTO make a t-shirt printer


• Toaster looks and acts like a printer

"

Americans: sign petition to fight Great Firewall of the USA

Americans: sign petition to fight Great Firewall of the USA: "Aaron sez, 'Does Hollywood know how to be evil or what? Just as the President is denouncing Iran and China for censoring the Internet, the MPAA is rushing through a bill to create an Internet blacklist here at home. American ISPs would be required to block any domains that host too much copyright or trademark infringement. The bill is so careless and vague even YouTube could get banned, and that's even before other government agencies get their hands on this technique. (WikiLeaks, anyone?) Can you sign our urgent petition to stop the bill?'

This is the kind of heavy-handed censorship you'd expect from a dictatorship, where one man can decide what web sites you're not allowed to visit. But the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to pass the bill this week -- and Senators say they haven't heard much in the way of objections! That's why we need you to sign our urgent petition to Congress demanding they oppose the Internet blacklist.

PETITION TO THE SENATE: Censoring the Internet is something we'd expect from China or Iran, not the U.S. Senate. You need to stop this Internet blacklist in its tracks and oppose S. 3804.

Stop the Internet blacklist!

"

Happy capybaras cure Monday blues

Happy capybaras cure Monday blues: "

It's like a Pentecostal service, but with giant rodents, as a person moves through a crowd of capybaras, scratching each one until it falls over on its side, slain with the spirit of snuggliness.

Some fun facts about everybody's favorite friendly hundred-pound rodent:

FACT: An extinct, North American species of capybara was, on average, a hundred pounds heavier than the current creatures. An even larger ancient rodent once lived in Venezuela and weighed in at 1500 pounds. No word on fossil evidence of cuteness.

FACT: According to the Vatican, capybara count as fish, and are thus acceptable food for Lent. Apparently, the meat looks like beef, but contains less fat and calories. And the taste? I saw descriptions ranging from 'pork-like' to 'fishy'. Which is quite a range. Have any of you tried it?

FACT: Capybaras live in herds—usually a handful of males, plus a lot of females and young. That sort of living arrangement is common for large mammals, but it's very rare in the world of rodents.

FACT: Capybaras are semi-aquatic and can remain underwater for as long as five minutes.

Via Chris Pasco-Pranger

• Life with a 100 lb rodent that sounds like a Geiger counter when ...

"

Obama administration wants encryption backdoors for domestic surveillance

Obama administration wants encryption backdoors for domestic surveillance: "

In a New York Times article today by Charlie Savage, news that the Obama administration is proposing new legislation that would provide the U.S. Government with direct access to all forms of digital communication, 'including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct 'peer to peer' messaging like Skype.'

Sound familiar? As Glenn Greenwald points out in his Salon analysis piece,

In other words, the U.S. Government is taking exactly the position of the UAE and the Saudis: no communications are permitted to be beyond the surveillance reach of U.S. authorities. The new law would not expand the Government's legal authority to eavesdrop -- that's unnecessary, since post-9/11 legislation has dramatically expanded those authorities -- but would require all communications, including ones over the Internet, to be built so as to enable the U.S. Government to intercept and monitor them at any time when the law permits. In other words, Internet services could legally exist only insofar as there would be no such thing as truly private communications; all must contain a 'back door' to enable government officials to eavesdrop.

On Twitter last night, Ryan Singel pointed out this relevant snip from a National Research Council report rejecting the idea of mandated backdoors in encryption... in 1996.

It is true that the spread of encryption technologies will add to the burden of those in government who are charged with carrying out certain law enforcement and intelligence activities. But the many benefits to society of widespread commercial and private use of cryptography outweigh the disadvantages.

And the lack of backdoors doesn't seem to have put much of a damper on domestic surveillance, anyway:

Law enforcement officials have long warned that encryption technology allows criminals to hide their activities, but investigators encountered encrypted communications only one time during 2009's wiretaps. The state investigators told the court that the encryption did not prevent them from getting the plain text of the messages.

Read the NYT piece: U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet.

And this CNET piece by Declan McCullagh, who's been covering this beat for longer than anyone I know, is an equally essential read. Snip:

Vice President Joe Biden proposed something quite similar in the 1990s. As I wrote in an earlier article, when Biden was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden introduced an anti-encryption bill called the Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Act. It said: 'It is the sense of Congress that providers of electronic communications services and manufacturers of electronic communications service equipment shall ensure that communications systems permit the government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law.' It was Biden's bill--and the eventual threat of encryption being outlawed--that Phil Zimmermann said at the time 'led me to publish PGP electronically for free that year.'

Update: ACLU reaction here. 'Mandating that all communications software be accessible to the government is a huge privacy invasion.'

[Image: Code, a Creative Commons-licensed image from Anonymous Collective]

"