New Home Secretary calls for end to end to end encryption

[Anonymous]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/31/home_sec_priti_patel_five_eyes_encryption_controversy/

Next week, ban on locks on doors

I'm afraid this kind of rubbish really makes my blood boil, you wouldn't be able to do half of the useful stuff you can on the 'net without it.

The only people that will be affected are those going about lawful business, not those they maintain they are trying to catch.

[EmilieT]

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@Anonymous wrote:

You wouldn't be able to do half of the useful stuff you can on the 'net without it.

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For anyone who might not be as tech-minded as you are, I was just wondering if you could give some more examples of the kind of stuff you're referring to @Anonymous?

[Anonymous]

For me, end-to-end encryption is one of the benefits of using WhatsApp, so if it were to become less secure, then I'd have to think very carefully about the kind of content that I might want to share with others.

[jezza1234]

Although i do not disagree with your comments on the whole there is an on going risk posed to those going about their lawful business by those that use encrypted services like whats app to coordinate their activities.

I for one do not have an issue with removing end to end encryption(which has only been recently added by Whats App) if it helps our government keep my and my family that little bit safer. If you have something senisitive to say to someone have a face to face conversation with them(which is a dying art nowadays) that way no one can intercept your conversation and it remains completely private.

[Anonymous]

@EmilieT 

Sorry yes

@jezza1234 

The problem is, encryption isn't just used for WhatsApp.

If you purchase things online or do your banking via the 'net you'll have been using an end to end encrypted service without even thinking about it, even using the O2 app or website creates an encrypted connection between your device and the backend service.

Data Protection legislation requires data controllers (any organisation collecting data from you) to take physical and technical steps to protect that data.

In real practical terms that means controlling who has physical access to the servers and storage that the data resides on (or ensuring that any cloud provider does so) and protecting it 'in transit' (to and from you) and 'at rest' (on the physical hard drive and/or backup medium such as tape, DVD/blu-ray or duplicate offsite drives)

Financial institutions also have to enforce this to comply with legislation to protect you and to protect themselves from loss.

And then there's PCI DSS which also prescribes measures to protect card information which retailers or card processors handling card transactions on their behalf have to comply with otherwise payment card schemes will not allow them to connect to their networks.

Due to distance and cost direct physical links don't exist and even if they did there's always risks of them being tapped.

Without it, trust collapses and criminals have a field day.

The key algorithm used to encrypt all this stuff is RSA (if you want to know more have a look here https://brilliant.org/wiki/rsa-encryption

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much @Anonymous for the information you have posted above