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   The article below might very well explain why the investigation into Salt   
   Typhoon was suspended by the new administration.   
      
   "U.S. authorities installed backdoors to mass-monitor their own citizens.   
   Someone hacked the backdoors, and millions of Americans' communications ended   
   up in unintended hands."   
      
   VPN firm warns against encryption backdoor in new ad   
      
   Date:   
   Thu, 23 Jan 2025 17:26:27 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Mullvad VPN has been running three ad campaigns within less than 2 weeks to   
   raise awareness of the dangers of data collections.   
      
   FULL STORY   
   ======================================================================   
      
   Through a cartoon-style FBI agent, the Swiss company Mullvad seeks to shed   
   light on the tensions between technologists and law enforcement around   
   encryption.    
      
   On one side, the recent Salt Typhoon hack  which compromised all major US   
   telecoms  prompted US authorities to call on citizens to switch to encrypted   
   communications . At the same time, however, the FBI referred to "responsibly   
   managed encryption." For Mullvad, this means one thing  creating backdoors to   
   end-to-end encryption.    
      
   "This proves they have not understood anything at all and are not learning   
   from their mistakes. They dont understand the basics: if you create    
   backdoors, they will be exploited by others, as happened in the Salt Typhoon   
   case," Jan Jonsson, CEO at Mullvad, told TechRadar, adding that the campaign   
   is a way to raise greater awareness around this issue. U.S. authorities   
   installed backdoors to mass-monitor their own citizens. Someone hacked the   
   backdoors, and millions of Americans' communications ended up in unintended   
   hands.   
      
    Encryption  which refers to scrambling data into an unreadable form to   
   prevent unauthorized access  is the guarantee that your messages (for    
   example, when you use Signal or WhatsApp) or internet connections (think of   
   how virtual private network (VPN) apps work) remain private between you and   
   the receiver.    
      
   Despite recognizing the importance of using encrypted messaging apps , law   
   enforcement has long argued that police officers should be able to access   
   these encrypted messages to catch the bad guys.    
      
   This is not a prerogative for US authorities, either. EU lawmakers, for   
   example, are also pushing for the so-called Chat Control proposal. If    
   enacted, this will require all encrypted communication providers to create   
   such an encryption backdoor to allow the monitoring of all citizens' chats on   
   the lookout for illegal content.    
      
   Ironically, the day that Mullvad decided to run its ad in the New York Times,   
   the Financial Times published an article reporting the Europol chief's   
   endorsement, yet again, of "responsible encryption."    
      
   "Mass surveillance does not belong in democratic societies. We want people to   
   know their rights and demand their rights," said Jonsson. "And we want the   
   politicians to realize that there is no such thing as anonymous data, that   
   data collected eventually leaks, and that it is high time for authorities to   
   stop mass-surveilling their own and other populations."   
      
   More of Mullvad's privacy-focused ads   
      
   This was the third in a series of ads, run by Mullvad, in the popular US    
   paper to raise awareness about the risks of intrusive data collection and   
   sharing.    
      
   Jonsson said: "We cannot have a society where peoples lives are tracked under   
   the excuse that the data is anonymous when patterns in the data reveal the   
   person behind it."    
      
   By tracking everything people do online, according to Mullvad, Big Tech   
   companies are mapping people's ideas before they're even voiced aloud,   
   de-facto undermining their right to free expression.    
      
   The VPN provider also believes that banning metadata collection  meaning all   
   the information about the data that is not the content  could also be an easy   
   way to resolve the problem of misinformation from its root. That's because   
   Jonsson said: "Personal data is what is used to create the algorithms that   
   fuel the spread of misinformation."   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/vpn-firm-warns-against-encr   
   yption-backdoor-in-new-ad   
      
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