It turns out, that the EU's push to completely abolish digital privacy might not actually be an altruistic move to save children from abuse. Several tech companies, including one headed by Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, stand to profit substantially from the decision. Which is why they massively influenced it.
The EU wants to establish universal client-side scanning for text messages and photos on citizen's phones. With other words: All cryptography would be useless and hence, nobody would have any privacy in the digital realm anymore.
When Whitfield Diffie, Ronald Rivest, Steven M. Bellovin, Peter Neumann, Matt Blaze and Bruce Schneier come together to publish a paper on the security and privacy implications of client-side scanning, we should listen up.
What are the new features Apple is implementing in iOS 15 that have privacy and security people all up in arms? And why none of this should come a surprise to anyone who's actually paid some attention and is thinking for themselves instead of just buying the company propaganda.
The German police can now hack into computers and phones, without the target having to have committed a crime. Even though a Berlin court has just ruled evidence from similar hacks originating outside of Germany to be inadmissible in criminal proceedings in the country.
The German government wants to put trojans on its citizens' phones and other devices to crack end-to-end encrypted communications. And it wants to do it with as little due process as possible. Welcome to another battle in the Crypto Wars!
Ever since the Cold War, intelligence services and their sympathisers in Western governments have worked tirelessy to prevent everyday citizens from utilising effective encryption to shield their lives from prying eyes. When the Clipper chip failed, these people switched to influencing legislation to get what they want. And now they are at it again.
The story of how police cracked the encryption of the EncroChat phone is not only important to criminals who used these devices, but also an interesting case study of how such systems are attacked in practice.
