Former NSA general counsel Stewart Baker had some interesting thoughts on current U.S. technology companies, specifically their choices to encrypt.
"The state department has funded some of these tools, such as Tor, which has been used in Arab Spring revolutions or to get past the Chinese firewall, but these crypto wars are mainly being fought between the American government and American companies," said Baker.
Both Apple (with iOS 8) and Android (with Android Lollipop) have begun encrypting their operating systems, making it supposedly nearly impossible for users to be spied on or for police authorities to take data from the devices.
Baker says that encryption was the downfall for BlackBerry (although, I would disagree), as encrypting user data limited its business in countries that require government oversight such as India, Arab Emirates, China and Russia. "Blackberry pioneered the same business model that Google and Apple are doing now - that has not ended well for Blackberry," added Baker. "They restricted their own ability to sell. We have a tendency to think that once the cyberwar is won in the US that that is the end of it - but that is the easiest war to swim."
Source:
Guardian
Both Apple (with iOS 8) and Android (with Android Lollipop) have begun encrypting their operating systems, making it supposedly nearly impossible for users to be spied on or for police authorities to take data from the devices.
Baker says that encryption was the downfall for BlackBerry (although, I would disagree), as encrypting user data limited its business in countries that require government oversight such as India, Arab Emirates, China and Russia. "Blackberry pioneered the same business model that Google and Apple are doing now - that has not ended well for Blackberry," added Baker. "They restricted their own ability to sell. We have a tendency to think that once the cyberwar is won in the US that that is the end of it - but that is the easiest war to swim."
Source:
Guardian
