Connections

Connection: Wiretap Laws

Ed Felten, yesterday: CALEA II: Risks of wiretap modifications to endpoints Today I joined a group of twenty computer scientists in issuing a report criticizing an FBI plan to require makers of secure communication tools to redesign their systems to make wiretapping easy. We argue that the plan would endanger the security of U.S. users and the competitiveness of U.S. companies, without making it much harder for criminals to evade wiretaps.

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Gun Control and Strong Encryption

In light of recent events, I wondered if anyone was making a connection between gun control and the regulation of strong encryption. So I googled it and found that someone had: me, two years ago. Related: why do so many news reports use the term “gunman” (emphasizing the noun; Google News has 2.49 million results in the past week) instead of “shooter” (emphasizing the verb; 216,000 results in the same week)?

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