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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAsking Silicon Valley to 'disrupt' terrorists is tech talk for 'surveillance'
(Guardian UK) The White House and its national security team are set to meet Friday with the countrys largest tech companies, like Facebook and Google, to discuss how they can help disrupt Isiss online activities (that cringe-worthy phrase is theirs, not mine). On the agenda: censorship and invasive anti-privacy and security measures that could affect not just Isis supporters, but everyone who uses the internet.
You can hate Isis while still being disturbed about the lengths the government is going to pressure these tech companies. There are so many shady things going on with this meeting its hard to know where to start.
First, tech companies were reportedly lured into the meeting with the promise that it was going to be about how to prevent Isis from using social media to amplify its message (well get to that later on), but then, as the Guardians Danny Yadron reported, US officials pulled a bait and switch on the tech companies and cornered them into discussing encryption as well. FBI director Jim Comeys participation in the meeting was on the condition of encryption being on the agenda, according to the Washington Post.
Despite the huge security benefits to encryption and the fact that it has not played a significant role in any of the recent terrorist attacks, the FBI has been on a warpath to get tech companies to stop using end-to-end encryption in some of their communications tools, essentially asking tech giants to give the government a back door to make sure there is not any communication platform that they cannot spy on.
This is a dangerously short-sighted move that will not only weaken internet security for everyone and put everyones privacy at further risk, but will also give Russia, China and other authoritarian countries the green light to demand the exact same thing to crush dissent. .....................(more)
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/08/white-house-silicon-valley-meeting-terrorism-social-media-facebook-twitter-microsoft-youtube-apple
IDemo
(16,926 posts)to enable the NSA, FBI, CIA or your local cops to eyeball encrypted communications while guaranteeing that China, Russia, North Korea and Tim from Fresno are not going to have the same opportunity.
I'll wait right here.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)now ISIS is the excuse to take over the internet.
VPN will be outlawed, soon.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)With the economy in its already dubious state, I don't think anyone in their right mind would do that. Left or RWers
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)create torture, black prisons, spying on all Americans as well as supposed allies, droning civilians, including Americans, to death,
allow and cover up an entire city's pollution of drinking water, take billions from our pocket to enrich banks and corporations,
etc
etc
etc
etc
but damned if they did not do all that.
GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)CIA has done it forever. GWB wasn't going to stop them
Shandris
(3,447 posts)Oh wait, yeah, a lot of us did, huh.
But they're wrong on one thing. It's not 'short-sighted'. It's signalling EXACTLY what they want it to signal. And then we'll have 'no recourse' but to follow suit a la Clash of the Tribes. "Whoops, guess we need to crush some dissent here too!" Besides, it's not like they haven't trained Twitter to destroy anyone they don't like. It's practically a Pavlovian attack dog as it stands.