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submitted 1 year ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

The government is suggesting that it might ban some Apple security updates. Under the latest plans, tech companies would need to notify the British government before rolling out a security fix but might be refused permission if it blocks a vulnerability that’s being exploited by security services.

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[-] sapient_cogbag@sh.itjust.works 114 points 1 year ago

The uk has a serious surveillance state cultural problem.

And holy fuck is this dumb.

[-] x4740N@lemmy.world 47 points 1 year ago

That's what Tories in government gets you

[-] Z3k3@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

In this case I don't think it would matter. Labour are pretty authorial in some areas too

[-] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 17 points 1 year ago

What about lib dems, green, etc? Those aren't the only 2 parties

[-] theinspectorst@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

Totally. We've had a few decades now of successive governments that have taken increasingly centralising attitudes towards privacy and civil liberties - essentially going back to the 1980s.

But the one bright spot in there was the 2010-15 Coalition, who abolished Labour's biometric ID scheme (people forget now, but the Brown government had passed legislation that meant that, if they'd won the 2010 election, then we would all have needed to register for these), deleted innocent people's DNA records from the police DNA database, halved the maximum length of time the police could detain people without charging them with any crime (from 28 to 14 days - after Labour has earlier tried to increase it to 90), etc. The Coalition was the one truly liberalising government of my lifetime and that's entirely a consequence of the Lib Dems' role in driving its agenda.

[-] Z3k3@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I agree I vote snp myself.

Just to expand a wee bit

Lib dem who sold out their vote voters for the illusion of power.

The greens don't stand here (the Scottish greens are a separate party from the one in eng/wales) the etc tend not to stand here with the possible exception of ukip and fringe people that are some how more insane

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[-] x4740N@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Labour isn't the only other party in the uk

[-] itsmikeyd@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

With FPTP, it might as well be.

[-] Z3k3@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

No shit it's almost like I said that in another coment probably over an hour ago responding to someone else making the same comment.

But the reality of the situation is qe at best have a 2.5 party system with lib dem ensuring the tories get in when Labour can't quite get an outright majority.

[-] jabjoe@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago

Labour at least have at least one MP not clueless:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-O9ux25lWFI

[-] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 5 points 1 year ago

Yep. Unfortunately I have no doubt that Labour would also implement something like this too, they didn't have a good track record for civil liberties when they were in power.

[-] Blamemeta@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

There's a reason why 1984 took place in Britain, they have a massive cultural issue.

[-] theinspectorst@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago

It took place in Britain because it was written by a British author for British audiences. It was written at a time when totalitarianism (both fascist and socialist) was a major threat in the world outside Britain.

IngSoc wasn't meant to suggest that Britain was somehow uniquely vulnerable to totalitarianism. It was meant to be a warning to Britons of how the totalitarianism that we could see dominating continental Europe and Russia at the time could also hypothetically develop here - IngSoc was meant to be a sort of 'totalitarianism with British characteristics'.

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[-] aksdb@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's like they watched V for Vendetta and thought "awesome, but let's prevent people like that masked ~~dude~~ chap".

[-] FarceMultiplier@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

In principle it's dumb, but we've also seen big tech companies push updates that are not security related under that guise.

https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/apple-iphone-planned-obsolescence-investigation-practices-france-b1081384.html

[-] AnonTwo@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago

It doesn't sound like this is regarding non-security related updates though.This seems very strictly towards blocking actual security updates.

[-] Turbo@lemmy.ml 26 points 1 year ago

This sounds like a clandestine way to force cooperation of backdoors, otherwise asking for permission to patch your own software is bonkers ...

[-] Polydextrous@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

It’s not even clandestine. They’re openly admitting they’re using the vulnerabilities as a way to spy.

[-] Turbo@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Agreed, I meant rather than asking for a back door or making it law, they could make it really difficult for the software vendor that the vendor actually volunteers a back door so they can be freed of the burden of asking permission for a patch and explaining what that patch does and what files it modifies etc..

[-] ArtVandelay@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I realize I really have no right to say this as an American surrounded by fucking Republicans, but y'all have a batshit crazy government over there

[-] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

At least the politicians over here pretend they're not illegally spying on everyone. I swear man, governments read 1984 and instead of being appalled, they said "oh, I want that!".

[-] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 20 points 1 year ago

As opposed to the EU legislating tech companies, the UK is so. much. worse.

[-] IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago

This is probably one of the reasons Tories pushed for Brexit

[-] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

To be fair I think they were quite split on the issue, I think the back benchers were more pro Brexit but the more prominent Tories were remainers.

[-] greyfrog@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

The EU are trying to backdoor E2E encryption too. Ipersonallyy think the EU is great but don't be so sure that everything they do is so benign.

[-] fox2263@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago

My stupid fucking government everybody.

[-] zebs@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

If I suffer financial loss due to a patched, but blocked by the government, vulnerability can I sue the government?

[-] Jumper775@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Governance of the internet is not something individual nations should be able to do. It’s international and their restrictions would the. Be applied to companies who don’t operate in their country and eventually may conflict with laws in other countries forcing people to choose between countries they don’t care about wrapping people and companies who are just trying to provide a service into political wars. It’s just not good for anyone. Let NATO do it or only limit your own country’s companies/datacenters.

[-] Pat@kbin.run 8 points 1 year ago

Signal already said that they're willing to leave the UK if the UK goes ahead with their E2EE backdoor law. I can see more companies doing the same if the government keeps insisting that every foreign company complies with their bullshit.

[-] maynarkh@feddit.nl 2 points 1 year ago

Not taking away form your point htere, but one country forcing its regulations on other countries' internet users is not really a new thing, the US does it all the time and a lot of countries are somehow okay with it.

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[-] sunbeam60@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago

The thing is, with modern web technologies, this really ISN’T something the U.K. can actually do. There is nothing preventing me from connecting through Tor or a VPN and hitting a web endpoint that offers encrypted messaging. The whole thing is SO dumb that it’s hard to believe politicians are actually dumb enough to think they can outlaw E2E

[-] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 year ago

What does the british think of this?

Why are they(thr elected politicians) ruining their country?

[-] ThePyroPython@feddit.uk 5 points 1 year ago

Most of my fellow countrymen are too thick to understand anything about this and couldn't care less.

It's an island of neanderthals and I hope I can get highly skilled enough to leave it.

[-] clara@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

same. where you thinking to bail out to? my top 2 picks are netherlands and norway atm. got any ideas?

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[-] ironveil@eviltoast.org 5 points 1 year ago

Most people here probably don't care, or take the stance of "I've got nothing to hide".

Because they're rich and want to get richer

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[-] Finnbot@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I think the Tory government are a shower of self serving cunts. That’s business as usual though.

I’ve honestly no idea why they keep getting voted in again and again. Baffles me even more why folk are voting Tory here in Scotland. “Fuck you, I’ve got mine” seems to be a big factor.

[-] Mrkawfee@feddit.uk 5 points 1 year ago

I’ve honestly no idea why they keep getting voted in again and again.

The voting system (FPTP) is undemocratic

[-] itsmikeyd@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

As with everything else done by our current incumbents, it's fucking moronic.

[-] greyfrog@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

They've been trying this shit for years and it always gets defeated. Problem is they keep pushing the issue every few years.

[-] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago

It's fucking dumb. They've been making similar noises about having back doors in the encryption in WhatsApp too.

The politicians probably genuinely do think that is good for the population as they'll think it's for our safety or some bullshit, but know fuck all about technology or civil liberties to understand the consequences.

As for the population, I doubt most would even be aware of this or even care if they do.

[-] Bananakabooom@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Same thing everyone else thinks. What a bunch of dipshits. Same reason your elected politicians are doing it. Either they think it's for the greater good or they're corrupt.

[-] ntzm@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

We are used to everything just getting worse.

[-] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 9 points 1 year ago

Wonder if Apple are running the numbers and seeing whether pulling out the UK altogether wouldn’t lose them much money.

[-] CluckN@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I believe Apple’s flat out told them that if they push these restrictions they’ll disable iMessage and other services for UK residents.

[-] blackn1ght@feddit.uk 4 points 1 year ago

Given that the vast majority of people use whatsapp this isn't really a big threat.

[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 3 points 1 year ago

Well, China and Russia do the same.

[-] zephyreks@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

China (and the US for that matter) don't need to stop security updates because they can just directly "ask" companies to put in backdoors.

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this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023
197 points (95.8% liked)

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