Archive for October, 2009

…says the Australian government. They are accusing Microsoft of protecting child abusers by including powerful encryption in Windows 7. A member of the Australian government working with “cyber-safety” is outraged that Microsoft is including powerful encryption in Windows 7, better known for its touch screen support: If this new product gives paedophiles protection to keep harming children I would be extremely disappointed. I would expect the company to take moves to rectify this. They seem unaware Bitlocker, Microsofts’ file encryption application, is anything but new: It was actually introduced in Windows Vista which was released 3 years ago. Australian “cyber law experts” are now demanding laws which would allow the state to lock up evil encryption users who fail to share their keys with the state.

Australian police themselves can already obtain warrants to secretly install key loggers, but cannot jail people for refusing to reveal encryption keys – they seek laws emulating those of the UK, where refusal to decrypt information for police is a serious crime. Under the UK’s draconian Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, police potentially have the power to lock up people who refuse to hand over keys to data they believe to be encrypted, but just how this works when encrypted data is indistinguishable from random noise is something courts have yet to establish. Americans too find their Constitutional rights subverted when it comes to encryption – in 2009 a judge ordered a man to turn over his encryption keys, ruling after a lengthy series of appeals that this did not constitute self-incrimination, which is protected against by the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.

Thwarted snoopers will doubtless howl all the harder when stenography, where it is all but impossible to demonstrate that encrypted data is even present, becomes more accessible. Technology also exists which allows a any number of dummy keys to be given to authorities, capable of unlocking fake files in order to thwart such laws, whilst allowing the real encrypted file to go unmolested. Both of these technologies pose severe problems to such laws, although it seems unlikely this will discourage further attacks on civil liberties by those keen to extend their powers by appealing to child protection hysteria.

However, Microsoft has previously been caught hiding backdoors in its encryption for the benefit of government snoopers, so if you don’t wanna get trapped for viewing pictures of 17 year old shirtless boys (which are CP nowadays if the pose is just a bit too sexy) you should rely on Open Source products like TrueCrypt. [via Sankaku Complex]

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