Vista needs an encryption backdoor?
The BBC News reports that UK officials are talking to Microsoft about establishing a “back door” so the government could find ways of getting around encryptions! They fear the new version of Windows could make it harder for police to read suspects’ computer files.
I think this is unbelievable, no privacy anymore? But some might find it dangerous that terrorists hard disks are encrypted using a key we cannot physically get at… “An unfortunate side effect from law enforcement is it would be technically fairly seriously difficult to dig encrypted material out of the system if it has been set up competently.”
This isn’t anything new. From at least versions 95 to 2000 Microsoft Windows included a secret cryptographic key owned by the NSA: http://www.msversus.org/node/65
This is, unfortunately, neccesary. The Islamic Extremists inside of our borders are already extrememly smart, and they set up in the best Universities around the nation and recruit the smartest new minds too. Couple that with better methods of encryption, and our Security Services find it much harder to do their jobs.
@veridicus: hmm, didn’t know that. Thanks for the info!
Whatever happened to the right to privacy? Governments take our privacy away and say that it’s for our own safety. Not that I don’t like being safe, but I rather have my privacy, because, no matter what, there is still going to be someone (a terrorist for example) who is going to cause harm.
-Chris
If a terrorist wishes to hide thier data, they would use a proven encryption technique instead of trusting Microsoft to provide them with something that works. It wouldn’t even matter to them whether their encryption actions are illegal or not. So rather then making the world a safer place, a flawed Vista encryption system would leave businesses and private people’s data available for anyone who manages to get a hold on the “master key”