FCC wants FBI to control PC software

[SteveA]

FBI to get veto power over PC software?
http://news.com.com/2061-10804_3-588...?tag=nefd.aon>

"The Federal Communications Commission thinks you have the right to use software on your computer only if the FBI approves.

No, really. In an obscure "policy" document released around 9 p.m. ET last Friday, the FCC announced this remarkable decision.

According to the three-page document, to preserve the openness that characterizes today's Internet, "consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement." Read the last seven words again.

..."

[Son of Belial]

Wow, big surprise. Police state, here I come.

[SteveA]

This one hits close to home because I happen to often write software. I guess I'll have to quit that job too.

I can't believe they would even consider 'vetoing' code someone write. It's not legislation up for a vote.

This is one of the reasons I love the book Atlas Shrugged. The FBI would be almost useless without PCs and software. Yes, time for me to quit another occupation. I'll just write software for myself and not bother to give anyone a chance to vote on it or veto anything.

Wow, big surprise. Police state, here I come.

Yes, we've got the new nation I.D. coming, the Patriot Act, the Supreme Court said it's fine for police to take one persons property and give it to someone else and they want to have stronger policing of the borders too. Makes you wonder if it's to keep people out, or like North Korea/Russia to keep people in instead.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: SteveA This one hits close to home because I happen to often write software. I guess I'll have to quit that job too.

Of course not. That would be unamerican to make you quit.
All you have to do is submit everything you write to a government department which will decide if it is the "right" kind of software. And if it isn't they will give you some friendly hints as to how to make it good and proper.

IYes, we've got the new nation I.D. coming, the Patriot Act, the Supreme Court said it's fine for police to take one persons property and give it to someone else and they want to have stronger policing of the borders too. Makes you wonder if it's to keep people out, or like North Korea/Russia to keep people in instead.

You are a friggin serf, get used to it. You will do nothing, say nothing, own nothing and go nowhere without proper permissions and of course the requisite fees to support the group which ALLOWS these things.

[tman_ndsu08]

They might as well have asked them to control the internet.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 They might as well have asked them to control the internet.

They will probably treat software the same way they treat recreational drugs. You can write "unapproved" software and use it with little chance of getting caught but if you try to SELL the stuff, watch out!

[Son of Belial]

Quote by: tman_ndsu08 They might as well have asked them to control the internet.

[Osborn F Enready]

The police state is barely here, and I am already having an itchy trigger finger.

I wish the power mongers would get on with this already, so I can get to scratching.

[Milton Bradley]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready The police state is barely here, and I am already having an itchy trigger finger. I wish the power mongers would get on with this already, so I can get to scratching.

Not a very articulate response from my buddy Osborn, but I can sympathize with your position. This is one of those subjects that just gets right under the skin. I also get caught up, and respond when angered, and just want to go right for the jugular. However, if you think it is not already happening to a certain extent, I think you are being naive.


Just look to the recent war type games that have been released, and the locations, and politics involved. I know that the games that I have experince with are either US forces battling in the Middle East, or China, or they are historic battles from the history books.


I can't help but think that this is a subtle recruiting tool foisted upon Americas youth by our corporate overlords. Not that there is not any interest on our part, after all we are paying for these games, but you have to admit that the locations, and the enemies are very suspicious if looked at critically. In the recent past it was Georgia, or Azerbayzhan, and now we have moved on to Iraq, and China.

[Compugasm]

I'm disappointed that there has yet to be one person on this board posting with even a hint of reason. SteveA, giving up programming, and itch trigger fingers. Good grief. If everyone seriously thinks the government is going to poor over every program and line of code... At least make an attempt to try to find out what's going on, because you all sound rather silly right now.

[Kite]

I'm pretty sure they are only talking about programs such as keyloggers and such. You know, the kind that are already illegal. But if they arent, I am going to hide in my basement and arm myself to the teeth and wait for the day they come to take my code away.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: Compugasm I'm disappointed that there has yet to be one person on this board posting with even a hint of reason. SteveA, giving up programming, and itch trigger fingers. Good grief. If everyone seriously thinks the government is going to poor over every program and line of code... At least make an attempt to try to find out what's going on, because you all sound rather silly right now.

It might be silly but the threat is a real one. Look at that PGP program that the State department was all up in arms about a few years ago. It allowed people to encrypt messages so the government couldn't intercept them and read them. If the government didn't think they may want to do that why all the fuss?
If we are indeed heading for a police state, this is one of the things such a state would want to do and it makes good sense that they would try to determine what they can gain control over BEFORE such a move is made.

Years ago, it was said that one of the things that brought down the Soviet Union was the simple fax machine. I'm sure if the state regained the control they once had they would make damn sure those fax machines were made completely transparent to government snoops.


Remember the old saying, "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're NOT out to get you."

[Rainbow]

Quote by: SteveA FBI to get veto power over PC software? http://news.com.com/2061-10804_3-588...?tag=nefd.aon>

The FCC didn't offer much in the way of clarification. But the clearest reading of the pronouncement is that some unelected bureaucrats at the commission have decreeed that Americans don't have the right to use software such as Skype or PGPfone if it doesn't support mandatory backdoors for wiretapping. (That interpretation was confirmed by an FCC spokesman on Monday, who asked not to be identified by name. Also, the announcement came at the same time as the FCC posted its wiretapping rules for Internet telephony.)

The core :
- ... Americans don't have the right to use software such as Skype or PGPfone if it doesn't support mandatory backdoors for wiretapping ...
That means : all the communication related devices along with services must be equipped-supported and provided with-by monitoring capabilities.
People oppose such ideas, but that is the only intial step, since science and technology has given a tremendous boost in electronics and computing fields, respectively.
We either need to re-write the Law, or adjust the way of thinking, since electronics and computing will pave te way for the next generations to come.

[Compugasm]

Quote by: Scribbler1 It allowed people to encrypt messages so the government couldn't intercept them and read them. If the government didn't think they may want to do that why all the fuss?

What you need is a system to analyze email, forum posts, blogs, VOiP, etc..and "crunch the numbers" of all the communication generated and flag "suspicious" communications that might have otherwise been lost, or seemingly unrelated.

The point is, you don't need to catch signals out of the air, and decrypt them on the fly. PGP is secure, but doesn't garuntee security. It's not how you break the encyption, but what security doesn't exist to break. The ability to read anything before it's encrypted makes encryption irrelvant. This is exactly the reason you can't walk up to a vending machine, and buys stuff with your cellphone.

Simple example, if Microsoft decides to leave port 3623 open for government scanners, and McAfee reports the port as closed anyway. The fact is, it's open to government scanners. Nothing Kite could program, in his Subterrainian Bunker in Antartica, will close it. If you want to get "Patrick Henry" on us, we could speculate on how many people know what port is open.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: Compugasm What you need is a system to analyze email, forum posts, blogs, VOiP, etc..and "crunch the numbers" of all the communication generated and flag "suspicious" communications that might have otherwise been lost, or seemingly unrelated. The point is, you don't need to catch signals out of the air, and decrypt them on the fly. PGP is secure, but doesn't garuntee security. It's not how you break the encyption, but what security doesn't exist to break. The ability to read anything before it's encrypted makes encryption irrelvant. This is exactly the reason you can't walk up to a vending machine, and buys stuff with your cellphone.

I believe they do that in Japan, but I get your point. I think all this is the classic "trial balloon" to see what they can slip under the radar.

[Jack]

I don't think it's any secret that for the last 20 years it's been illegal to use, distribute and/or sell an encryption algorithm that the NSA cannot break (providing of course they notice.) Intel agencies defend their actions by raising the specter of hostile foreign nationals (terrorists, these days) using unbreakable encryption to communicate in secret. While it's true that could happen, it's just as true that the agencies miss most of the open communications that they'd like to intercept just because of the volume of information being disseminated every day.

[Osborn F Enready]

I personally am amazed.

How can people even attempt to justify this?

[Critter]

Another question:

How can we make them stop?

[Osborn F Enready]

Answer to Critters question....

Once again, we need to reinstate the Constitution, and its limitations on federal and state government.

This is FAR beyond the designed scope of either in this case.

[Compugasm]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready How can people even attempt to justify this?

Because if the standards are laid out by the W3 or OpenSource, then government should be following it. As Isherwood said, they're just "seeing what they can get away with" and maybe the whole purpose of this 3 page report is to generate the reactionary opposition, and therefore excuse, to spend billions on coming up with their own standards. This would be the worst case senario.