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In the last few days, we’ve seen two big stories in the realm of cryptography. The first is that SHA-1 breaks are now practical, and those practical breaks impact things like PGP and git. If you have code that depends on SHA-1, its time to fix that. If you have a protocol that uses SHA1,…
Read More Cryptographic ExcitementYesterday, AT&T announced an Encrypted Mobile Voice. As CNet summarizes: AT&T is using One Vault Voice to provide users with an application to control their security. The app integrates into a device’s address book and “standard operation” to give users the option to encrypt any call. AT&T said that when encryption is used, the call…
Read More AT&T, Voice Encryption and TrustThat’s the key message of Ethan Zuckerman’s post “Internet Freedom: Beyond Circumvention.” I’ll repeat it: “We can’t circumvent our way around internet censorship.” It’s a long, complex post, and very much worth reading. It starts from the economics of running an ISP that can provide circumvention to all of China, goes to the side effects…
Read More "We can’t circumvent our way around internet censorship."The Get FISA Right group is publicizing our need to re-think the laws. They have discussion going on on their site, as well as on The Daily Kos. I recommend catching up there, or reading Adam’s recent post here. I have to ask what was wrong with the old FISA? It wasn’t a bad system,…
Read More What Was Wrong With the Old FISA?Jim Burrows is working to kick off a conversation about what good reform of US telecom law would be. He kicks it off with “What does it mean to “get FISA right”?” and also here. To “get it right”, let me suggest that we need: One law that covers all spying Require warrants when the…
Read More What Should FISA Look Like?[Update: This got to #5 on change.org’s list, and they’re now working to draw attention to the issue on change.gov.] Jon Pincus has asked me for help in drawing attention to his “Get FISA Right” campaign to get votes on change.org. When I’ve tried to look at this, it’s crashed my browser. YMMV–I use a…
Read More "Get FISA Right" PointerAnd the reason it doesn’t work is that just because you’re allowed to own something doesn’t mean you’re allowed to export it. The use, ownership, production, etc. of crypto was never restricted, only its export. In an Intenet-enabled world, export control brings lots of hair with it, which is why it was important to fight…
Read More Actually, Randall, We Tried ThatVox Libertas, a blogger at the Daily Kos has written an analysis of the new US FISA law in his article, “I think I understand the FISA bill. Do I?” Vox Libertas has taken an approach that I can appreciate. On the one hand, many people are unhappy with the telecom immunity. I’m one of…
Read More New FISA AnalysisTechCrunch, via Jim Harper.
Read More Wiretaps we can believe inRyan Singel has a long article in Wired: “Point, Click … Eavesdrop: How the FBI Wiretap Net Operates.” I was pretty stunned at some of the numbers: FBI endpoints on DCSNet have swelled over the years, from 20 “central monitoring plants” at the program’s inception, to 57 in 2005, according to undated pages in the…
Read More Inside Carnivore