I agree with that, but what is different now is that crypto has gone from something that will impact a few investigations to a fact that law enforcement and intelligence agencies will have to live with, and there will be much money to be made trying to build NSA-proof services.
The previous battles are I think small skirmishes compared to what is coming.
"what is different now is that crypto has gone from something that will impact a few investigations to a fact that law enforcement and intelligence agencies will have to live with"
That was exactly the issue during the crypto wars. The cat was out of the bag by the time NSA agents showed up in Rivest's office and started treating it like a crime scene. The DOJ brought up stories about common criminals using PGP to avoid prosecution when Zimmerman was testifying before Congress. The crypto wars were an effort to prevent cryptography from becoming commonplace, not just about a few high-level targets using it.
"there will be much money to be made trying to build NSA-proof services"
First of all, privacy is not a service, at least not if "privacy" means "NSA-proof." Hushmail and Lavabit have proved that point beyond any doubt.
I also doubt that privacy-enhancing technologies will be very profitable. There is a general lack of understanding of what things like PGP actually do, which makes it hard to sell such things. People want convenience more than privacy. Business users are willing to accept systems with back doors, for both their own internal needs (a dead employee's files should not be lost forever) and for compliance with various regulations (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley).
What you almost certainly will see are lots of scams and snake-oil security.
That was exactly the issue during the crypto wars. The cat was out of the bag by the time NSA agents showed up in Rivest's office and started treating it like a crime scene. The DOJ brought up stories about common criminals using PGP to avoid prosecution when Zimmerman was testifying before Congress. The crypto wars were an effort to prevent cryptography from becoming commonplace, not just about a few high-level targets using it.
Right. I totally get that. I am just saying it is totally different now that the government has given everyone strong incentive to use crypo as a matter of course. If people don't trust the government to be responsible regarding wiretaps, the government won't be able to wiretap.....
Comments
"I think we are going to see a massive showdown over crypto backdoors, the likes of which we have not seen yet"
All this has happened before, all this will happen again:
http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Crypto_Wars
I agree with that, but what is different now is that crypto has gone from something that will impact a few investigations to a fact that law enforcement and intelligence agencies will have to live with, and there will be much money to be made trying to build NSA-proof services.
The previous battles are I think small skirmishes compared to what is coming.
"what is different now is that crypto has gone from something that will impact a few investigations to a fact that law enforcement and intelligence agencies will have to live with"
That was exactly the issue during the crypto wars. The cat was out of the bag by the time NSA agents showed up in Rivest's office and started treating it like a crime scene. The DOJ brought up stories about common criminals using PGP to avoid prosecution when Zimmerman was testifying before Congress. The crypto wars were an effort to prevent cryptography from becoming commonplace, not just about a few high-level targets using it.
"there will be much money to be made trying to build NSA-proof services"
First of all, privacy is not a service, at least not if "privacy" means "NSA-proof." Hushmail and Lavabit have proved that point beyond any doubt.
I also doubt that privacy-enhancing technologies will be very profitable. There is a general lack of understanding of what things like PGP actually do, which makes it hard to sell such things. People want convenience more than privacy. Business users are willing to accept systems with back doors, for both their own internal needs (a dead employee's files should not be lost forever) and for compliance with various regulations (e.g. Sarbanes-Oxley).
What you almost certainly will see are lots of scams and snake-oil security.
Right. I totally get that. I am just saying it is totally different now that the government has given everyone strong incentive to use crypo as a matter of course. If people don't trust the government to be responsible regarding wiretaps, the government won't be able to wiretap.....