As if anybody here needs a reason to be wary of what you do online, this essay shares how a foreign adversary used back doors that were intentionally put in place to spy on Americans and how the rest of the world probably has the same back doors.
I especially appreciate the phrase “nerd harder” and the quote, “The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia”.
How can IT folk help politicans to understand?
No outrage, just a reminder to encrypt, VPN or whatever to protect yourself from surveillance.
I don’t like your phrase, “incompetence of those who designed the backdoor”. I was not in the room, but in my mind, the execs said “build a back door for the govn’t” and the engineers said “you can’t do that JUST for one party” then the execs said “do it anyways or get fired, we’re getting fistfulls of cash to do it” and the engineers said “I enjoy feeding my family, it’s your company anyways” and did it.
IIRC the backdoor design and keys came from the agencies, not the companies.