\n\tPakistan newspaper The Express Tribune reports from Karachi that the country's telecommunications regulator is pressing ISPs to comply with recent regulations which restrict the use of end-to-end encryption.<\/p>\n
\tAny technology which conceals communications and prohibits monitoring, it seems, is off the menu.<\/p>\n
\tThe Tribune quotes a letter sent to it by an ISP which had been warned by the regulator:<\/p>\n
\t In line with [the Monitoring & Reconciliation of International Telephone Traffic] Regulations 2010 and national security, [the Pakistan Telecommunication] Authority prohibited usage of all such mechanisms including encrypted virtual private networks (EVPNs) which conceal communication to the extent that prohibits monitoring.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \tThe letter continues by reminding the ISP:<\/p>\n \t It is observed that the aforementioned directive has not been followed in true letter and spirit as EVPNs are heavily being used on the Licensees Network.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \tThis concern over the inability of law enforcement to intercept or prevent communication between criminals and militants will no doubt resonate in other countries – notably in the UK, where services such as BlackBerry's instant messaging came under the spotlight after the recent riots there.<\/p>\n \tUnfortunately, however, an internet in which encryption was banned altogether would be even more dangerous than what we have today.<\/p>\n \tYou've probably heard the gun lobby's truism that "if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." Yet there are many countries where private ownership of guns – handguns, at least – has been heavily regulated or even banned outright without a concomitant increase in gun crime.<\/p>\n \tIt's tempting, therefore, to argue that if we can ban guns without endangering society, despite the vigorous warnings of a vocal minority, we can do the same with cryptography. Perhaps "if crypto is outlawed, only outlaws will have crypto" is just the crazy slogan of a bunch of libertarian survivalist cypherpunks with something to hide?<\/p>\n \tThe problem is that banning every sort of 'communications concealing' technology online would destroy the very fabric of the internet's law-abiding use. There would be no SSH, no SSL, no TLS, no HTTPS. There would be no WiFi security. Online commerce would implode.<\/p>\n \tWhether the private ownership of weapons is as big a threat to society as some like to make out is an argument for another day, because cryptography on the internet isn't like handguns in the suburbs.<\/p>\n \tIn most developed countries, you don't routinely need to pack a Browning Hi-Power when you visit your local bank branch. (Even in countries where that's legal, the bank would probably make you lock it in a safety deposit box at the entrance, anyway.)<\/p>\n \tIn contrast, you do routinely need to use an SSL-protected tunnel to the bank when you transact online.<\/p>\n \tSignificantly, the bank needs you to do so, as well. And if you don't, you're actually playing into the hands of the crooks.<\/p>\n \tSo the next time you hear a nanny-state advocate oppose the general availability of strong crypto on the grounds that "if you've got nothing to hide, you don't need to hide anything", don't just sigh in dismay.<\/p>\n \tConfront them with the inanity of their remark. (Unless they've got a Browning Hi-Power. In that case, give a little smile and leave as soon as you can.)<\/p>\n \t* If you have nothing to hide, then it doesn't matter whether you choose to hide it or not, does it?<\/p>\n \t* Online, you do have things to hide. And if you and the rest of us don't hide it as a matter of course, the cybercrooks will plunder our economy more seriously than they're doing already.<\/strong><\/p>\n \tIn short, if you want to do away with online crypto, you're making things easier for the crooks, not harder. And that, I'm sorry to have to say, is a truism.<\/p>\n \tTake cryptography seriously. Protecting your own online assets helps protect everyone else, too.<\/p>\n \tSources: Pakistan newspaper The Express Tribune reports from Karachi that the country's telecommunications regulator is pressing ISPs to comply with recent regulations which restrict the use of end-to-end encryption. Any technology which conceals communications and prohibits monitoring, it seems, is off the menu. The Tribune quotes a letter sent to it by an ISP which had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[140,17],"tags":[144,142,146,145,143,141],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion","category-security","tag-crypto","tag-https","tag-pakistan","tag-pta","tag-ssl","tag-vpn"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p12j6H-52","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":317,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.silicontechnix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\thttp:\/\/tribune.com.pk\/story\/240736\/virtual-watchdog-internet-users-banned-from-browsing-privately-for-security-reasons\/
\n\thttp:\/\/nakedsecurity.sophos.com\/2011\/08\/29\/pakistan-move-against-online-crypto-a-dangerous-idea\/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=status%2Bmessage&utm_campaign=naked%2Bsecurity<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"