Sep-Tober Update: Encryption In The Air

Audio format will be available on both the Steady and Spotify/general publication RSS feed within a week or two of this email. If you’re reading the archived version of this post after 15 October, 2024, the audio version may be attached at the bottom of this (opens in a new window):

🦉 Sep-Tober’s Note:

Hey, everyone! I know this newsletter is mostly supposed to be a recap of the previous month, but I think it’s important to bring your attention to some things happening that are taking place this month, before they’ve passed.

Before we get started: I linked to this organization in the last article, but please consider donating to the World Central Kitchen (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). They’re one of a handful of organizations left still trying to work in Gaza. They take donations in a number of formats, including PayPal tips and crypto.

World Central Kitchen has resumed operations in Gaza following the April 1, 2024 Israeli Defense Forces attack that killed seven team members.

🦉 10/10 The EU Council Will Meet On CSAM And Tech Regulations

This is a rough one, and it got covered a bit in the article I hawk in the next section. Essentially, the EU Council is having a meeting on the tenth of October to discuss measures for forcing digital companies to prevent the spread of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).

Let me unequivocally say that this is a worthy cause, and not a bad thing to pursue. It is certainly something that tech companies are not doing enough to combat.

That said, the measures discussed include a move to essentially weaken (and if some Ministers had their way, completely destroy) End-to-End Encryption in pursuit of a measure to pre-scan for offending material.

If you weren’t sure about this, there currently is no such technology that allows developers to do this sort of thing that doesn’t fundamentally weaken security—potentially to the point that it could even keep European companies and governments from adequately guaranteeing GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulation), which has been the cornerstone of Europe’s slightly less awful stance on both cybersecurity and data sovereignty.

The current reforms suggested are not reasonable with current technology (and if they were, I would completely change my stance, here), but even the representatives from countries as relatively conservative as Poland have seen through it (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). They are currently being spearheaded by Hungary/Viktor Orbán’s government while they still have control of the EU Council’s Presidency.

🦉 The UN Cybercrime Treaty Hits The US Senate. It’s Bad.

Recorded Future Has A Good Article About It Here (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)

The UN Cybercrime treaty should rightfully be resisted. It is overbroad and empowers authoritarian governments to declare anything done with a computer that they don't like as a "cybercrime".

Cory Doctorow had its number clocked back in July (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).

Recent Releases

🦉 Blog Articles:

Signaling To Ghost And Telegram: A Good Time To Talk About E2EE (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)

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On Tuesday, September 17th, international law enforcement revealed that it had infiltrated and dismantled the Ghost encrypted messaging platform. The crackdown and subsequent arrests come just weeks after the apprehension of Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram. Both cases are still unfolding, with updates on Telegram‘s fate coming daily. As the revelations come, a debate over the place of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and its relationship to numerous messaging platforms has found itself reignited in time for a major legal decision by EU authorities. Is this part of a pattern creating real reason for concern, or is it all tech-libertarian virtue signaling?

In this piece, I go over how the crackdowns on Telegram and Ghost have both led to, let’s say a bad-faith argument about a VERY REAL issue that I care pretty deeply about: surveillance and E2EE.

🦉 Virtual Verity Podcast:

I’d like to give you guys more updates on the status of the podcast, but I figured I’d just stop talking about it and continue working on the next couple of episodes. Expect more to come very soon!

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What’s In The News? - What I’ve Been Reading (Not this time!)

🦉 I know I typically try to put a news rundown in every newsletter, but you’ll be getting a second email in the next couple of days or so with that included! I appreciate your patience!

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🦉 New Toys

The newest infrastructure update is a social media-related one.
TikTok: I’ve started making videos for the TikTok (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre). First one is already up, but I’ve got more cooking. These will be entertainingly-designed shorts based on stories that are a little timeless and more meant to bridge some interest gaps for the Tiktok audience.
Substack: Don’t worry, I still have no interest in making money for the entities that run Substack, and I’m not suddenly flopping over to another newsletter services while I’m still trying to get off the ground. But I have started using Substack as an engagement and teaser platform (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) for the time being.
My main social media attention has largely been on Bluesky, but I felt the need to engage a bit more actively engaged outside of my bubble with other journalists. Fully aware that the platform is full of monsters. Click the link above to follow myself or The Moloch on there.

Stay safe out there, and please, I know that the news cycle is full of awful stuff as it is, between everything going on in the Middle East, Ukraine, parts of Africa, Myanmar—literally the world over. Do always try and see the human in all of these conflicts, and check on your friends that might be in the more immediately affected areas. As well, I know a lot of my fellow Americans are being displaced by a double hurricane event as we speak.

…But do try to pay attention to some of the things happening, legally, that may have a more immediate impact on your life than you realize. Both the EU (less so) and the UN are bodies that few pay attention to the decisions of outside the policy wonk space. Data sovereignty and mass surveillance need to remain priorities for engaged citizens: be you an anarchist, a libertarian, or just a concerned participant in democracy.

Next newsletter is coming in just a few days! I hope that was worth your time!

🦉Hail Moloch!🦉