On Wed 15 May 2019, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency over threats against American technology.
The executive order bars the use of telecommunications equipment made by companies that are deemed a threat to national security, clearing the way for an outright ban on products made by Huawei. The day after the Executive Order was signed, the US the Commerce Department added Huawei and 70 affiliates to its “Entity List” after it concluded that the Chinese company was engaged in activities “contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests”. On Tue 23 July 2019, Attorney General William P. Barr delivered a Keynote Address at the International Conference on Cyber Security in New York, NY. In this speech, Barr makes the case for back door access to apps and devices. In his address, Barr states that "Service providers, device manufacturers and application developers are developing and deploying encryption that can only be decrypted by the end user or customer, and they are refusing to provide technology that allows for lawful access by law enforcement agencies in appropriate circumstances." He ends his address strongly indicating that the US will legislate such access if the private sector does not voluntarily provide it. "Obviously, the Department would like to engage with the private sector in exploring solutions that will provide lawful access. While we remain open to a cooperative approach, the time to achieve that may be limited. Key countries, including important allies, have been moving toward legislative and regulatory solutions. I think it is prudent to anticipate that a major incident may well occur at any time that will galvanize public opinion on these issues. Whether we end up with legislation or not, the best course for everyone involved is to work soberly and in good faith together to craft appropriate solutions, rather than have outcomes dictated during a crisis." So the US wants to have back door access to devices and apps, many of which are used by everyone around the world, including the Chinese, but bars Chinese equipment for having even the potential of back door access. This is not only the height of hypocrisy, it will rapidly move the world toward "cyber warfare". A war that the US cannot win. The US will lose technologically and economically. And why will the US lose this war? Because China has more than 10 times the number of researchers already working on it, many of whom were educated in the western world. It is in the best interests of the US, and the world, to embrace Globalization and work cooperatively towards globally unified standards and regulations for technologies, including security. This could include legal access to information under well defined circumstances which apply to all. You see, the US wants this access but they do not want to clearly define the circumstances for when access is allowed. It is reasonable to assume that China has exactly the same position. If the world sits down at the table to sort this out, the US and China, and everyone else will have to clearly define when and how access is exercised. Would such a process be perfect? No, but the alternative is that access will be imposed without any hope that there will be at least some safeguards.
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