4/17/16
MIS 441
Tech Musing 3
Articles:
- http://www.wired.com/2016/04/senates-draft-encryption-bill-privacy-nightmare/
- http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/an-attack-on-privacy-from-the-senators-charged-with-protecting-it/478146/
Last Thursday, a draft of a bill titled “Compliance with Court Orders Act of 2016” was published. It was authored by offices of Senators Diane Feinstein and Richard Burr. After heated debate between the FBI and Apple in regards to encryption and security vs law enforcement, Congress has authored their response on the subject in the form of this anti encryption bill. The bill states that, “To uphold the rule of law and protect the security and interests of the United States, all persons receiving an authorized judicial order for information or data must provide, in a timely manner, responsive and intelligible information or data, or appropriate technical assistance to obtain such information or data.” A court order demanding unintelligible data to be rendered intelligible would require mandatory compliance and essentially would make end-to-end encryption illegal. On top of that, the bill requires the same ease of access to law enforcement for all products, services, applications or software distributed by license distributors such as Apple’s App store, and Google’s Play store. Kevin Bankston, the director of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, calls this a “massive internet censorship bill” and “easily the most ludicrous, dangerous, technically illiterate proposal” he has seen in his 20 years working in tech policy.
Relevance to MIS 441
This newly proposed anti-encryption bill has everything to do with privacy, surveillance, and government encroachment on citizens’ rights. Relating directly to our class discussions on the FBI-Apple case, this bill has a multitude of implications for cybersecurity and the privacy of American citizens. It would prevent Americans from protecting themselves by banning the strongest types of encryption and would undermine our cybersecurity. Weakening encryption and security for the sake of law enforcement would serve to enable hackers and foreign cyber spies and would leave Americans vulnerable to identity thieves and criminals. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation states, “Millions of Americans suffer the loss, theft, or compromise of intimate communications, trade secrets, and identities each year. We desperately need more security, not less.”
Importance as an MIS student
As an MIS student, this is relevant to the field of cybersecurity. It demonstrates how little our legislators on congressional intelligence committees understand about cybersecurity. It also highlights the importance for students and future leaders in information and technology to understand, and teach cybersecurity. Even more so, this is important as a citizen of the U.S. to be aware of. Our rights to privacy and safety should be a major concern. Bankston states “We have to take this seriously. If this is the level of nuance and understanding with which our policymakers are viewing technical issues we’re in a profoundly worrisome place.”
In Australia, law enforcement was able to legally collect the communications records of a journalist without a warrant. Last Friday, the House passed a bill undermining net neutrality principles. The possibilities for a government to control data collection, information, and privacy are frightening and it is vital that citizens take heed of how lawmakers are handling or mishandling the legislation of information, security, and privacy. Edward Snowden stated yesterday, “That’s really the problem, isn’t it? Sometimes the scandal is not what law was broken, but what the law allows.”
Additional links:
The article I posted and wrote about is very relevant to this one. Obviously, cyber security and cyber crime are two trending topics in law creation at this time. It appears to me that the government is attempting to pass these laws in order to get the information they
ReplyDeletewant with no regard to the average citizen's privacy. The entire Apple-FBI case will prove to be an important turning point in cyber monitoring laws.
This fight will never end. As the EFF article states, For many of us in the digital rights community, the FCC’s Open Internet Order was the culminations of years of hard work. It was just the beginning, though. We must continue to urge both lawmakers and the executive branch to defend a free and open Internet. Let's hope we have an executive branch who knows what an open internet means!!
ReplyDelete