Monday 30 March 2015

The Law of Unintended Consequences makes another unexpected appearance online

The unintended consequences of security theatre imposed on airline travel is replicated in the security theatre of mass online state surveillance – also supposedly for our protection against terrorists, but whose indiscriminate application has encouraged tech firms to improve encryption for perfectly legitimate non-terrorists, making  surveillance of any real threat more difficult rather than less.

A European police chief says the sophisticated online communications are the biggest problem for security agencies tackling terrorism…
"[Tech firms] are doing it, I suppose, because of a commercial imperative driven by what they perceive to be consumer demand for greater privacy of their communications."

Ya think?

[Hat tip Duncan B.]

1 comment:

paul scott said...

Yes good PC. Since reading you recently , I always consider now; the law of unintended consequences .
I am a stray dog biting . I must be more careful, and I will be; but not too much; otherwise a simple castrate..