Think of the Children: Anti-E2EE Ads Ahoy
Another Five Eyes government is trying to stop end-to-end encryption (E2EE). This time, it’s the UK—with an actual advertising campaign to convince plebs of the technology’s dangers.
“E2EE protects pedophiles, y’see.” That’s the tired, well-worn claim—despite it having been debunked again and again and again. It’s the latest clumsy attempt to build popular support for laws banning privacy.
Say it with me, everyone: Banning math doesn’t stop criminals. In today’s SB Blogwatch, we get déjà vu all over again.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Marbellous.
Priti Vacant
What’s the craic? Matt Dathan breathlessly reports—“Priti Patel backs ads accusing Facebook of ‘blindfolding’ police in child sex abuse inquiries”:
Protecting our children”
Priti Patel … the home secretary [rough equivalent: Secretary of Homeland Security] will step up her efforts to prevent [Facebook] rolling out encrypted messaging to all its platforms. [She] is backing an advertising campaign that will accuse Facebook of “blindfolding” police in their investigations into child sex abuse.
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The ads, to be run in newspapers and on radio and television within weeks, are aimed at winning over public opinion against end-to-end encryption. They will say that officials will be blocked from catching paedophiles.
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The adverts expose the failure of the government, police and security agencies to persuade Facebook … to rethink its plans for all messaging … to be end-to-end encrypted. [A] spokesman said: “Our No 1 priority is the protection of children and public safety. Technology companies must take responsibility for tackling the most serious illegal content and protecting their users, including our children.”
Won’t somebody think of the children? Gareth Corfield op-eds up a storm—“Don’t think of the children: Think of the nuances and edge cases instead”:
Poorly informed decision hastily reached”
It’s a difficult and nuanced topic made no simpler or easier by the fact that government officials seem hellbent on painting it in black and white. … Government and law enforcement officials who briefed the press on condition of anonymity earlier this week sought to paint a picture of the internet going dark if Facebook’s plans for … E2EE went forward.
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Police and government ought to accept a new reality where they are constrained to operate within specific one-off warrants authorising hacking into a specified device [consistent with] a long legal and historical tradition that kept police on a short leash when it came to searches. … E2EE also makes it far more difficult to implement population-scale mass surveillance of the type exposed by … Edward Snowden in 2013.
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While taxpayer-funded messaging bombards us with “think of the children” over the next few months, think instead of what else E2EE encryption brings – both its upsides and its downsides. A poorly informed decision hastily reached on the basis of one-sided information is no decision worth making.
Oh look. It’s this thread again. u/Bitter-Dragonfly-906 is fed up of reading it:
Pretending”
Absolute classic “won’t someone think of the children.” They’re pretending that it’s encryption … preventing the police from catching [criminals].
Destroy your phone? That might not be enough, thinks Nrrqshrr:
Good luck escaping”
If anything, it’s the Luddites that have it right. The only way to fight a despotic, control-freak government (or any private institution really) is through the adoption of technology that they do not control, only for them to either embrace it or demand full control of it.
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[This is a] case in point. … Rinse and repeat for a technological arms-race where everyone is a slave to everyone and the only winning move is to not even have a phone.
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We need to remember that centuries ago, people came to the Americas all starry-eyed and with great hopes of freedom and prosperity in their heart. Fast-forward to today: … Good luck escaping The Americas 2.0 with even more control built into its very design.
Awww sh—here we go again. Andy The Hat rolls his eyes:
As comfortable as possible”
Welcome to the world of political spin: Word it as vaguely as possible, to make it sound as bad as possible, to get away with as much state surveillance as possible, whilst still insisting that free speech, privacy and data security are “their” main concerns.
Be it E2EE, mass surveillance or selling medical data to the highest bidder, it all comes down to states making sure their free populous are toeing the line and making the lives of the incumbent powers-that-be as comfortable as possible.
O RLY? u/mediumredbutton pushes a more nuanced view:
It isn’t that important”
It’s an interesting approach — have charities do the PR campaign on behalf of the government. But it does dance around a pretty important point: If this is so important, why aren’t they legislating?
Because it would violate treaties? The Human Rights Act? Because even her own party with their huge majority won’t pass it? Or because it isn’t that important?
But would it even work? Baron_Yam says nope:
You can't tell”
Load of ****. If that kind of security makes things difficult for the cops, it also makes things difficult for the criminals. If something is widely available to the public, it’s widely available to cops. They’re part of the public, you can’t tell an anonymous cop from an anonymous non-cop apart.
Wait. Pause. It’s not as if Facebook’s existing moderation policies work. Or so says @AbiEnquiries:
Shut them down”
I reported stuff to Facebook—exploitation of children—and apparently it wasn’t against their Community Standards? The stuff that is allowed on Facebook is shocking. … They should have special teams working to catch the people that exploit children and shut them down.
Meanwhile, you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide. Yeah, right, purrs Arthur the cat:
Cardinal Richlieu”
“If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him.” … Supposedly Cardinal Richlieu.
And Finally:
Hat tip: b3ta
You have been reading SB Blogwatch by Richi Jennings. Richi curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites … so you don’t have to. Hate mail may be directed to @RiCHi or [email protected]. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE. 30.
Image sauce: Greg Bulla (via Unsplash)
