The French newspaper Le Monde reports
that the Wi-Fi restrictions would give the French government the
authority to outlaw free or shared Wi-Fi connections during a state of
emergency. Such connections can theoretically be used anonymously, which
makes it more difficult for security forces to track suspects. The
French security forces have also requested the ability to search
vehicles and luggage without consent and to conduct identification
checks without justification. All of these changes would apply to
France’s state of emergency powers, and would presumably not be in
effect for an indefinite period of time.
The proposal to ban Tor,
however, is a non-emergency power act that would “forbid and block” the
service from operating within France. VPN providers in the country
would also be required to turn over encryption keys to the French
government upon request.
The Paris encryption myth
Almost
as soon as the Paris attacks began, a rumor began to circulate that the
terrorists had planned their attacks using non-standard modes of
communication, like the PS4, or via encrypted services that government
agencies couldn’t penetrate. Pundits speculated that the attacks must
have been the work of sleeper agents embedded in Syrian refugee
populations, feeding the idea that mass immigration to Europe was the
problem.
These various narratives have since been proven false,
but that hasn’t stopped the security state from chasing their
implications. The fact that the terrorists were EU citizens rather than
refugees is relevant — it means that these individuals were already
known to the EU. The European Union has its own monitoring and analysis
programs in place; France is a member of a wider security network
referred to as “Nine Eyes.”
The
mastermind of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was located thanks
to a plaintext message sent via SMS on a discarded cell phone. Thus
far, no evidence has been found to suggest that the terrorists relied on
encryption or made use of it to plan the attacks.
National
security agencies have a two-pronged approach to terrorist attacks and
other threats. If an attack succeeds, it’s touted as proof that the
agencies in question need more power and less oversight to defend the civilian population.
If an attack is thwarted, it’s proof that the sweeping powers and
minimal oversight previously granted to the organization are absolutely
necessary to prevent terrorism. The fact that these powers are almost never
responsible for breakthroughs in terrorism investigations is quietly
swept under the table. Post-Snowden, the NSA has been forced to admit
that its surveillance of Americans and foreign persons of interest has
yet to prevent a single attack.
Blocking Tor might soothe the
knee-jerk “do something” mentality, but it’s not going to help France
fight terrorism in the long term. The United States’ comprehensive
monitoring programs have not been shown to help in our own
anti-terrorism investigations. Banning or blocking encryption, or the
entire Tor network, simply will not solve this problem.
12/08/2015
France reportedly considers blocking Tor, public Wi-Fi in wake of Paris attacks
France’s government is
reportedly considering a set of proposals that would give it
unprecedented authority to control network communications. These new
proposals are a response to the terrorist attacks in Paris last month
that killed 130 people. In the wake of such events, the public often
pressures politicians to “do something,” but it’s not clear that these
proposals are the right thing to do.
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