The reason why this might worry people who don't like the US/UK/Israeli governments is hidden in a secret place...a paragraph that is neither the first paragraph nor the last.
Tl;dr the argument is if three letter agencies can’t buy or make exploits anymore because all vulnerabilities are patched, they will ramp up legal and legislative pressure to make vendors install backdoors. Which is bad and we should all worry about.
One of the author’s blind spots here is the concept of “digital sovereignty”. The US is continuing to ban more and more Chinese-made hardware out of fear that the Chinese govt has installed backdoors in them… which you could interpret as an admission that the US does exactly that with American made products. Globalized supply chains are, erm, complex, and few if any companies are really going to be able to achieve “digital sovereignty” with hardware. But with software it’s actually plausible, though obviously hard. Whether or not the feds have actually installed backdoors in Microsoft Outlook, foreign govts are rightly concerned that they have, and are increasingly pushing to avoid US made software for simple national security reasons.
Which is to say that they will become more authoritarian and aggressive? That's not a good reason to be unhappy that they can no longer hack shit. They shouldn't do that either.
There are lots of things governments should and shouldn’t do, but unfortunately we don’t live in a vacuum, and need to consider the consequences of actions, rather than simply hope everyone is somehow forced to react the way we expect and desire.
In a nutshell, what I’m saying is “They shouldn’t do either” is at best a platitude and at worst a distraction preventing critical thought.
By this logic, we should never try to escape our abusers or resist our oppressors: we should just capitulate now, give them everything they want, and that way they won't escalate to (more) violence.
In a nutshell, this is bullshit. Bootlicker bullshit.
In a democracy (which our Western nations are certainly supposed to be, though that's become less true over time), if the people in government are doing things that are counter to the interests of the people, the appropriate response is to replace those people. Protest, contact your representatives and senators, contribute to campaigns that oppose what they're doing, etc.
And, of course, in an authoritarian state, if they decide they're going to add in backdoors to our phones, or ban encryption, or take whatever other draconian measures, then it doesn't matter a huge amount how we, the people, express our opposition to this; it's extremely unlikely that we have just enough collective strength and will to prevent them doing A, but not to prevent them from doing B instead. Either we can stop both, or neither.
So our strategy should be to shut down AI so it leaves vulnerabilities everywhere? Not sure what you are saying. Fixing security bugs across the world's software isn't some single policy action that we can vote on.
Governments should behave. I know they don't, but they should, and the population should do everything in their power to force them to. What other choice do we have?
Please demonstrate your powerful faculty of critical thought and explain what we should do instead.
> Thus: over the next two years, major pieces of software are likely to run out of remotely-exploitable bugs.
> While I think this is great, for law enforcement and offensive intelligence agencies, it’s going to be a nightmare.
> So what do we do about it? I honestly have no idea. [...] it’s just occurring to me that we’re on a long greasy slide to a place that will look different than where we are today. [We’re] just going to have to hope that this time we make the right choices.
Nope. The article’s assertion is that governments will start to put enormous pressure on tech companies in their borders to include backdoors in their systems for LEO use. This in turn may lead to “nationalized” software e.g. what Russia and China largely do now, but in many more countries. You may have no choice but to use phones, computers, and software that is backdoored by your government - everything else will be illegal.
I think "nope" is in reference to "hacking" system. The point of the article is that hacking by software vendors that sell to law enforcement was a pressure relief valve that deflated the movement that the FBI was pushing at the time to have Apple (and others) build backdoors into their systems. If the phones could be hacked, and backdoors were not necessary the FBI could back off and still get what they want. If the FBI can't get what they want, they can either pressure the companies like Apple, or they can pressure congress to make laws requiring this. The phone makers could stand on principle, go to court, but the courts in the US are not very tech savvy, and usually deferential to law enforcement. Other countries may be better than the US, but some are definitely going to be worse.
So is a backdoor worse than a security vulnerability? I don't know but that is what this article is about.
His argument is that the government is going to start forcing tech companies to install backdoors in their tech, now that (hypothetically) they can't use hacking anymore.
Right? I saw "I’m concerned that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are about to go dark, meaning lose a huge portion of their capability." and my first reaction was GOOD.
I read the full article and have the same reaction. He's worried that civil rights will be in a better position and that we'll have to continue to defend them from that better position.
The reason why this might worry people who don't like the US/UK/Israeli governments is hidden in a secret place...a paragraph that is neither the first paragraph nor the last.
Tl;dr the argument is if three letter agencies can’t buy or make exploits anymore because all vulnerabilities are patched, they will ramp up legal and legislative pressure to make vendors install backdoors. Which is bad and we should all worry about.
One of the author’s blind spots here is the concept of “digital sovereignty”. The US is continuing to ban more and more Chinese-made hardware out of fear that the Chinese govt has installed backdoors in them… which you could interpret as an admission that the US does exactly that with American made products. Globalized supply chains are, erm, complex, and few if any companies are really going to be able to achieve “digital sovereignty” with hardware. But with software it’s actually plausible, though obviously hard. Whether or not the feds have actually installed backdoors in Microsoft Outlook, foreign govts are rightly concerned that they have, and are increasingly pushing to avoid US made software for simple national security reasons.
Which is to say that they will become more authoritarian and aggressive? That's not a good reason to be unhappy that they can no longer hack shit. They shouldn't do that either.
The trouble is, sometimes governments do things that they shouldn't do.
There are lots of things governments should and shouldn’t do, but unfortunately we don’t live in a vacuum, and need to consider the consequences of actions, rather than simply hope everyone is somehow forced to react the way we expect and desire.
In a nutshell, what I’m saying is “They shouldn’t do either” is at best a platitude and at worst a distraction preventing critical thought.
By this logic, we should never try to escape our abusers or resist our oppressors: we should just capitulate now, give them everything they want, and that way they won't escalate to (more) violence.
In a nutshell, this is bullshit. Bootlicker bullshit.
In a democracy (which our Western nations are certainly supposed to be, though that's become less true over time), if the people in government are doing things that are counter to the interests of the people, the appropriate response is to replace those people. Protest, contact your representatives and senators, contribute to campaigns that oppose what they're doing, etc.
And, of course, in an authoritarian state, if they decide they're going to add in backdoors to our phones, or ban encryption, or take whatever other draconian measures, then it doesn't matter a huge amount how we, the people, express our opposition to this; it's extremely unlikely that we have just enough collective strength and will to prevent them doing A, but not to prevent them from doing B instead. Either we can stop both, or neither.
So our strategy should be to shut down AI so it leaves vulnerabilities everywhere? Not sure what you are saying. Fixing security bugs across the world's software isn't some single policy action that we can vote on.
Governments should behave. I know they don't, but they should, and the population should do everything in their power to force them to. What other choice do we have?
Please demonstrate your powerful faculty of critical thought and explain what we should do instead.
Read the article. That's what the article says.
> Thus: over the next two years, major pieces of software are likely to run out of remotely-exploitable bugs.
> While I think this is great, for law enforcement and offensive intelligence agencies, it’s going to be a nightmare.
> So what do we do about it? I honestly have no idea. [...] it’s just occurring to me that we’re on a long greasy slide to a place that will look different than where we are today. [We’re] just going to have to hope that this time we make the right choices.
Nope. The article’s assertion is that governments will start to put enormous pressure on tech companies in their borders to include backdoors in their systems for LEO use. This in turn may lead to “nationalized” software e.g. what Russia and China largely do now, but in many more countries. You may have no choice but to use phones, computers, and software that is backdoored by your government - everything else will be illegal.
I think "nope" is in reference to "hacking" system. The point of the article is that hacking by software vendors that sell to law enforcement was a pressure relief valve that deflated the movement that the FBI was pushing at the time to have Apple (and others) build backdoors into their systems. If the phones could be hacked, and backdoors were not necessary the FBI could back off and still get what they want. If the FBI can't get what they want, they can either pressure the companies like Apple, or they can pressure congress to make laws requiring this. The phone makers could stand on principle, go to court, but the courts in the US are not very tech savvy, and usually deferential to law enforcement. Other countries may be better than the US, but some are definitely going to be worse.
So is a backdoor worse than a security vulnerability? I don't know but that is what this article is about.
It sounds like we should be gearing up for that fight then, so we can win it.
What do you mean "Nope", you mean "Yep" right? What you are describing is precisely "more authoritarian and aggressive"
His argument is that the government is going to start forcing tech companies to install backdoors in their tech, now that (hypothetically) they can't use hacking anymore.
How is that not a better position than the current situation?
Right? I saw "I’m concerned that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies are about to go dark, meaning lose a huge portion of their capability." and my first reaction was GOOD.
What was your reaction after reading the full article?
I read the full article and have the same reaction. He's worried that civil rights will be in a better position and that we'll have to continue to defend them from that better position.
That was my first thought as well... But remember, they've got unlimited Mythos while we barely have Fable.
Which part of the article made you feel this way?