[liberationtech] Globe and Mail Editorial

[J.M. Porup]

Ronald Deibert:
> Hi LibTech
> 
> Following up on my earlier post about our Citizen Lab report, and the reporting of the CBC and the Intercept on the smartphone exploitations, I wrote a piece for the Globe and Mail summarizing my views.

A fine article. May I offer one quibble?

> The case of UC Browser is one illustration of a larger public policy problem around cybersecurity. We stand at a crossroads. Down one path is a future where governments secretly stockpile information vulnerabilities as weapons, weaken encryption to make eavesdropping easier, and engineer secret “back doors” into our networks to steal info and sabotage systems. Heading down this path will turn the global information commons into an inter-state battlefield. In worst case scenarios involving the targeting of critical infrastructure, it will lead inevitably to large-scale loss of life.

Inter-state? Or intra-state?

The age of inter-state rivalry seems behind us, replaced by an alliance
of the secret police of the world against their peoples. Here in Latin
America this happened quite explicitly as part of Operation Condor. The
Southern Cone countries partnered to exterminate fleeing dissidents and
journalists in each other's territories.

I fear we are seeing the same now on a global scale.

Emphasizing the deliberate--or at best, passive aggressive--nature of
the CSE's support for repressive regimes would be an effective check on
the disturbing growth of their power within what is, at least in name, a
democracy.

Jens