[metaobject]

I was listening to the Senate hearing on Wednesday where they were asking the FBI director questions about this issue. They were talking about how they need to include the tech community in the conversation about how to best solve the problem of making sure the govt can access encrypted messages, etc. when they're conducting an investigation.

Senator McCain started asking questions about how it was possible to maintain citizens' privacy, but at the same time be able to access private data. Then he made it clear what his feelings were on the subject. Basically, his argument boiled down to "But, ISIS!".

"Is ISIS trying to kill Americans?", he asked the FBI director. The director said "yes". Then he said that b/c of ISIS, the govt has to be able to access keys so they can read encrypted data.

[itistoday2]

Well, "But, ISIS!" is not a real argument, that should be clear.

Backdoors make the situation worse, not better. We'll still have ISIS, we'll be even less secure, and we'll have lost whatever is left of our right to privacy.

Pretty much a lose-lose for everyone involved (except maybe ISIS).

The answer to "But, ISIS!" is not backdoors, it's foreign policy.

[metaobject]

Yeah, he sounded very out of touch and demonstrated very little understanding of the implications of having a government backdoor.

[rhizome]

US Foreign Policy is not considered to be a matter for democratic concern and consideration. Any time it's brought up as a reason, it's always to be translated to "because we said so and we're the only ones who have the power to affect it."