French, German ministers to meet in push to counter encrypted messaging apps
France's interior minister on Thursday announced plans to meet with a German counterpart and tackle the issue of encrypted messaging apps, which he argued are preventing intelligence agencies from fighting terrorism.
The two will get together on Aug. 23 in Paris, and discuss a European plan with the ultimate goal of international action, Reuters said. France's Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters that encryption is a "central issue" in combating terrorism.
"France will make proposals. I have sent a number of them to my Germany colleague," he added.
France has been hit with a number of Islamist terrorist attacks in the past two years. In a recent incident involving the murder of a priest in Rouen, one of the attackers regularly communicated with followers via Telegram, a messaging app mostly popular outside the U.S. Like Signal, WhatsApp, and Apple's own Messages, Telegram offers end-to-end encryption -- something so secure that even an app's creators can't intercept conversations.
Spy and law enforcement agencies around the world have regularly complained about encryption causing communications to "go dark." A number of corporations and privacy groups, Apple among them, have countered that many well-intentioned individuals need the technology as protection against hackers, criminals, and potentially malicious government entities.
It's not clear what kind of measures French and European governments might take, but some U.S. politicians and officials have backed measures that would force app creators to offer a backdoor, and/or decryption on demand. To date these haven't succeeded, and companies like Apple have argued that they would fundamentally weaken security.
The two will get together on Aug. 23 in Paris, and discuss a European plan with the ultimate goal of international action, Reuters said. France's Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters that encryption is a "central issue" in combating terrorism.
"France will make proposals. I have sent a number of them to my Germany colleague," he added.
France has been hit with a number of Islamist terrorist attacks in the past two years. In a recent incident involving the murder of a priest in Rouen, one of the attackers regularly communicated with followers via Telegram, a messaging app mostly popular outside the U.S. Like Signal, WhatsApp, and Apple's own Messages, Telegram offers end-to-end encryption -- something so secure that even an app's creators can't intercept conversations.
Spy and law enforcement agencies around the world have regularly complained about encryption causing communications to "go dark." A number of corporations and privacy groups, Apple among them, have countered that many well-intentioned individuals need the technology as protection against hackers, criminals, and potentially malicious government entities.
It's not clear what kind of measures French and European governments might take, but some U.S. politicians and officials have backed measures that would force app creators to offer a backdoor, and/or decryption on demand. To date these haven't succeeded, and companies like Apple have argued that they would fundamentally weaken security.
Comments
Sheesh!
The facts of the matter are that the worst German leader since WWII, that vile woman AKA Merkel, invited the entire world to migrate to Germany and the EU. Terrorists all over the world also heard her call, and they've taken her up on her offer.
Now there are mass rapes and sexual assaults everywhere.
And let's not even mention terrorists shooting people up everywhere, terrorists driving large trucks through crowds of people, and terrorists blowing themselves up left and right.
These retards think that encryption is the problem?
All I have to say is, hahaha! What a bunch of totally clueless, pathetic people, who are so clueless, that their cluelessness is downright dangerous, and has gotten so many people killed already.
Keep up the good work, my EU friends.
It's no wonder that the UK wisely chose to break away from you lot. You're a bunch of deranged lunatics and pathetic appeasers and I laugh in your general direction.
Importing a bunch of terrorists into your country also doesn't help. Instead in fixing their own country from there own radical Muslims, they flee to other countries and bring the same old crap with them including the terrorists. Along with the hate and everything else. You go into these other country's and don't change and adapt but pretend your in little Iraq, or little Syria. The problems are not being fixed, the problems are now just spreading to other countries.
I’ll teach you how to fight terrorism:
CLOSE YOUR GODDAMN BORDERS AND DEPORT EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF THEM.
Frankly one of the fee reasons I support Trump is his stated desire to keep terrorist and criminals out of this country. The left doesn't like the idea but screw them. There is no good reason to swing the doors open wide and ignore every indicator there is about the risks involved in letting terrorists into the country.
You may not agree with Europe's hopes for a multicultural society but the majority here do and democracy wins whether or not you are onboard.
As for the 'surveillance' aspect, are you seriously suggesting the current Conservative gang_without_a_plan for Brexit...doesn't harbour exactly the same aspirations ré 'backdoors'?
They have also stated that they have no desire to withdraw from EU wide security and intelligence sharing, so theoretically the UK would still be subject. They all want the same thing. US, UK, EU, China, India, Russia.....
They can't have it but they will come up with stupid unenforceable stuff in the meantime.
1. Cannot exist, by definition.
2. They’re not Europe’s hopes.
1. Too fucking bad. The majority is not always sane.
2. No, not by a long shot.
1. Unless it goes in a way you don’t like, in which case it was rigged.
2. That’s why the US is a republic, not a democracy. Because fuck mob rule.
Twitter is a great example... a person was pissed at Twitter, intentionally started a rumor it was shutting down and it went viral. Everyone believed it, including stock markets.. its price dropped.. on a false claim everyone just took as true.. the mob rule = dumb idiots with hoods, torches, and pitchforks .. For examples search Google on Trump presidential campaign. .
Email being so trivial that it takes 5 minutes with any modern email software. From basic number reference books all the way to steganography, there were ample ways to send secret messages before the advent of encryption - with technology these same means can be rolled out just as easily and conveniently.
Also for context about terrorism, we don't have particularly more now than we have had over the past 40 years. The impact of terrorism is really only seen in the media - the death count is both lower than it used to be, but also only a mere fraction of more common ways to die*. Really, it's pretty hard to get as excited as you all about terrorism and xenophobia when you're significantly more likely to die from other controllable aspects of typical life: driving a car, not eating well/exercising, gun violence or much more simply: poverty.
It's not to suggest that we don't do anything about terrorism (far from it), but removing encryption is not the solution, nor even slightly effective at stemming the real causes of premature death.
* USA Figures:
Heart Disease 610,000+ per annum (cancer is similarly high)
Road toll 32,000+ per annum
Gun violence (ex suicide) 27,000+ injuries w 13,300+ deaths per annum
Terrorism (all groups & incidences combined): ~5 per annum, frequently 0 per year
In short: use your logical brain and don't be so driven by difficult to substantiate emotional reactions/fears.
How does this stop Americans from shooting up theaters in Aurora or schools in Sandy Hook? And countless other locales?
Sure, it is is a popular close-minded idea, especially after *your* family has already immigrated and naturalized, but in the US at least, home-grown white Christian gun nuts kill more citizens.
Australia solved their home grown mass murders quite well.
“Closing the borders doesn’t stop car crashes, so we better not do it!” Are you fucking serious?
Buzzword. Either have a real argument or prove your claim.
Guess whose family fought in the Revolution. Guess who doesn’t have an argument in the first place even if that wasn’t the case.
No, blacks kill the most. Try again.
By revoking their citizens’ human rights. Hooray! Except wait, no, the gun ban had ZERO EFFECT ON HOMICIDES and it increased sexual assault.
anyway, isn't what the EU authorities are doing here a bit like treating symptoms rather than the problem itself?
Like fixing a headache caused by a brain tumour with some aspirin. Control your borders, or give up pretending to be a nation state.
To the elites, that sounds less like an ultimatum and more like a wet dream.
As for this
<i>
1. Unless it goes in a way you don’t like, in which case it was rigged.
2. That’s why the US is a republic, not a democracy. Because fuck mob rule.</i>
I guess you are a Trump voter. He's already laying the groundwork for the next revolution.
Why else would he be saying that the election is rigged?
And then telling people to go kill Hillary...
Dr Strangelove is indeed turning from fiction into fact.
Very glad that I didn't take up that offer to become a US Citizen all those years ago and went to live in a much saner place. Still bonkers at times but at least we don't have half the population armed with guns.
We damn well need one. Should have had one in 1913, and if not then, 1946. The federal government needs to be put back in its place. If not peacefully, then violently. No qualms about that whatsoever.
Because sources are showing exactly that, not even talking about the republican primary! Voter fraud has increased quite a bit in recent years. We have peaceful legal responses to this, of course, but when they fail (or are not invoked, purposely), we also have a violent LEGAL response. See: The Battle of Athens.
Nope. Try again.
ANIMALS VILL BE BRED UND SCHLAUGHTERED!
Nowhere on Earth is as free as the US, so I’d question the call of “sanity”.
“At least” meaning an overall increased chance of rape, theft, and all manner of violence, etc. than places with guns, got it.
Yes, there's lots the US is free of too