Telegram Pavel Durov: Encryption “cannot be secure just for some people" -Clip from CBS 60 Minutes ENCRYPTION DEBATE

2 months ago
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(2016)_Durov said, “You know the interesting thing about encryption is that it cannot be secure just for some people.” In other words, once we open a back door, even if it’s just for law enforcement, it’s only a matter of time before other people find that door and start using it for criminal purposes.

Without strong encryption, your direct deposit could be hijacked and end up in someone else’s account. Every time you bank online, or make a purchase on Amazon.com, with a back door to encryption, someone else can take your personal information or your money. Our own government depends on encryption to protect state secrets, remember Secretary of State Clinton’s email scandal? Well, if we open up a back door to encryption, none of that would matter anymore because all State communication is vulnerable.

With a back door to encryption protocols, every modern facet of society is vulnerable. Encryption prevents hackers from taking down the stock market. Encryption prevents terrorists from breaking into the air traffic control system and wreaking havoc. Encryption protects our medical records, and our email passwords.

Telegram isn’t alone in this debate, and this isn’t a European problem. The United States government has demanded Apple provide a back door for them to decrypt iPhones. Discussing this with my own family recently, they didn’t understand why this is even a question, of course law enforcement should be able to access our phones if we do something wrong. But, as Durov said, once that door is open for one person, it’s open for everyone. The FBI isn’t asking to be able to unlock the phones, they’re asking to end encryption. Tech companies are balking at this, not because of corporate greed or anti-government sentiment. Tech companies understand, we cannot do this without setting the world back decades. The potential damage to the economy is immeasurable.

One last point, and Durov also touched on this. Even if Telegram were shut down tomorrow, nothing is stopping ISIS from creating their own Telegram-like application. Further, even if we coded back doors into every encryption protocol in use today, nothing is stopping ISIS from creating their own encryption protocol used exclusively by their apps that has no back door. In the end, we’ve made the whole world vulnerable, but have done nothing to stop the terrorists.

Clipped from article: https://medium.com/@whelan_t/the-disingenuous-battle-over-encryption-338a7f407a28

CBS ENCRYPTION DEBATE TRANSCRIPT: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-encryption-debate-lesley-stahl/

Video Clip: https://t.me/LauraAbolichannel/61293

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