As if anybody here needs a reason to be wary of what you do online, this essay shares how a foreign adversary used back doors that were intentionally put in place to spy on Americans and how the rest of the world probably has the same back doors.

I especially appreciate the phrase “nerd harder” and the quote, “The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia”.

How can IT folk help politicans to understand?

  • satanmat@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Eh?

    You can’t build an unpickable back door into a computer system.

    You can’t break encryption for only the good guys.

    The path to hell is paved with good intentions.

    Encryption only works when there is one decryption key. If there are two different keys then it isn’t encrypted bad actors will find a way in

    • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      That is 100% correct. Nonetheless, the US agencies assumed that they were smarter than basically all of the security community and common sense.

    • umbrella@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      The path to hell is paved with good intentions.

      except the intentions werent any good either.

    • Rain World: Slugcat Game@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      whenever you encrypt something, encrypt with both the intended public key and the fbi’s public key. and send the one encrypted with the fbi’s key to the fbi.