I
know you've got that slightly annoying uncle that you love so much because
they're just adorable the way they are. But sometimes, it's difficult to
explain how technology works for them.
For
example, I try to explain what Internet marketing is. All they know is the
television era as advertising and marketing. It's hard.
Now,
it's the same situation for many of the US' tech companies when they try to
explain backdoors to Western politicians.
In
an effort to beef up security and intelligence-gathering, Western governments
are urging tech companies to create backdoors and help them gather more
intelligence.
Almost
everyone is in disagreement with this move. UN's Human Rights experts had voiced
out their opposition to the Snooper's Charter. They would probably not
side with this one.
World
governments don't understand that once you urge companies to create backdoors
to messaging and communications applications, it's a backdoor for everybody.
It's not just a mole city for companies and government officials but also for
hackers looking to make some quick buck.
Modern
messaging applications work like this:
The
message from your chat application gets encrypted with a unique decrypter, both
of which are sent to the receiving end of your message. Only the receiver's
messaging app can collect the decrypter and read the message. This is a privacy
guarantee that locks out all tech companies, service providers and the
government from private communications.
Now,
what's the consequence when companies create backdoors? Well, total lack of
confidence for using technology.
And
trust me, that's a sad, sad world to live in.
