After Endless Demonization Of Encryption, Police Find Paris Attackers Coordinated Via Unencrypted SMS by Karl Bode.
From the post:
In the wake of the tragic events in Paris last week encryption has continued to be a useful bogeyman for those with a voracious appetite for surveillance expansion. Like clockwork, numerous reports were quickly circulated suggesting that the terrorists used incredibly sophisticated encryption techniques, despite no evidence by investigators that this was the case. These reports varied in the amount of hallucination involved, the New York Times even having to pull one such report offline. Other claims the attackers had used encrypted Playstation 4 communications also wound up being bunk.
Yet pushed by their sources in the government, the media quickly became a sound wall of noise suggesting that encryption was hampering the government’s ability to stop these kinds of attacks. NBC was particularly breathless this week over the idea that ISIS was now running a 24 hour help desk aimed at helping its less technically proficient members understand encryption (even cults help each other use technology, who knew?). All of the reports had one central, underlying drum beat implication: Edward Snowden and encryption have made us less safe, and if you disagree the blood is on your hands.
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You have heard that cybersecurity is too hard for most users?
Apparently cybersecurity is too hard for most terrorists too.
Perhaps we can gauge the progress of terrorist use of encryption by adoption of the same by the OPM?
Another consequence of the Paris attacks is more evidence for the proposition:
Network News: You are now dumber for having heard it.
There was no reason to speculate about how the attackers communicated with each other. Waiting for facts from the police investigation wasn’t going to harm the victims further.
Reporting facts about the Paris attack could have advanced public discussion of the attacks.
We will never know due to the network news generated cloud of mistakes, falsehoods and speculation around such events.
Update: See: Too little too late: The horror of Paris proves the media need to debunk rumours in real time by Claire Wardle.
A delightful piece on how fact-checking in real time isn’t all that difficult. Makes you wonder about the “value-add” of news reporting that doesn’t.
Follow First Draft on Twitter for more coverage on junk news and efforts to stem it.
As I said yesterday in Lies, Damn Lies, and Viral Content [I Know a Windmill When I See One]:
What journalism needs is pro-active readers to rebel against superficial, inaccurate and misleading reporting. Voting with their feet will be far more effective than exhortations to do better.
Unless and until there is economic pain from bad reporting, it is going to continue.