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The leading surveillance officer in charge of a surveillance agency in the most surveiled nation on the planet is arguing that we need more surveillance. In a world where the government accesses a significant portion of my phone's data (despite it being blatantly illegal), and where credit card numbers, electronic funds, personal information, medical records, etc etc are stolen on the DAILY, we need LESS encryption, especially on social media, because terrorists.

I can't handle this.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/07/08/comey-encrypted-messaging-not-needed-to-block-mass-surveillance

It's fascinating in that one part of the US government funds and promotes privacy technology with the aim of allowing people to speak out against oppressive governments, while another part actively attempts to break and overcome the same technology so they can snoop on Americans and others. While I believe that Mr. Comey and others may sincerely believe that doing away with encryption would increase security, I think they are very misguided...the few potential downfalls of a terrorist or criminal more easily being able to use this technology is small in comparison with the many benefits encryption provides the average person.

And the problem is that if the United States can gain access to 'private' computers and phones, what's to prevent China, Russia, or Iran (or those pesky terrorists) from doing so as well?

You raise another excellent point - the costs  significantly outweigh the benefits of any sort of mandate against small-time encryption like this.

Besides, those people don't have to get sensitive information from our devices...they can get it directly from our government. >_>

It's this and other reasons that I cringe whenever someone refers to the US as the "Last World Superpower."  Superpowers aren't at the whim of "hackers," the are the ONE WHO KNOCK- er, they are the hackers. How many times is this going to happen before we take heads out of collective asses and actually do something about it?  Or would that expose the hypocrisy of the FBI's call for weaker encryption?

I don't think anyone is completely out of the grasp of hackers and electronic spies...programs are incredibly complex now, and the smallest bug or mistake can give someone access, though one does wonder if we're also gaining access to their systems.

On a side note, I don't want this thread to be just "PB Hates America," and I realize I'm just sort of ranting at this point.  If this belongs in another forum, then so be it.

I believe it's in the right forum.

I'd rather not comment on this. I'll almost certainly rant like a madman.

It's not like you'd ruin the mood of the thread!