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Jeb Bush Comes Out Against Encryption 495

An anonymous reader writes: Presidential candidate Jeb Bush has called on tech companies to form a more "cooperative" arrangement with intelligence agencies. During a speech in South Carolina, Bush made clear his opinion on encryption: "If you create encryption, it makes it harder for the American government to do its job — while protecting civil liberties — to make sure that evildoers aren't in our midst." He also indicated he felt the recent scaling back of the Patriot Act went too far. Bush says he hasn't seen any indication the bulk collection of phone metadata violated anyone's civil liberties.
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Jeb Bush Comes Out Against Encryption

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  • buh, bye (Score:5, Insightful)

    by harvey the nerd ( 582806 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:31PM (#50362615)
    That's ok, most people are against Jeb Bush. Encryption makes it harder for the Stasi to do its job?

    Jeb was already on his way to irrelevant, just another nail in his political coffin.
    • Re:buh, bye (Score:5, Funny)

      by Spy Handler ( 822350 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:34PM (#50362641) Homepage Journal

      Jeb is gonna want some kind of a cabinet position in the Trump administration, so he better start catching up on past episodes of The Apprentice.

      • Jeb is gonna want some kind of a cabinet position in the Trump administration, so he better start catching up on past episodes of The Apprentice.

        We could do worse than Trump... But.... We could do a LOT better too. I sure hope Trump get's tired of spending his money on this side show pretty soon...

        • by Thud457 ( 234763 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @01:05PM (#50363023) Homepage Journal
          Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho 2016! YEEEEEEHAAAAWWWWWW MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!
        • Maximum damage (Score:5, Informative)

          by Okian Warrior ( 537106 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @01:53PM (#50363595) Homepage Journal

          We could do worse than Trump... But.... We could do a LOT better too. I sure hope Trump get's tired of spending his money on this side show pretty soon...

          The summary nature of voting on legislature (yea, nay, abstain) puts an upper bound on the amount of damage a bad congressman can do.

          Essentially, there are a finite number of times any congressman can vote on an issue. If they vote against the interests of the people every time, they've reached maximum damage.

          The same can be said of presidents (pass, veto, pocket-veto, &c.).

          Few issues are black-and-white: most laws are some percent good for the people and some percent bad. The two issues I can find that are closest to 100% bad for the people are H1B Visas and the Patriot and USA Freedom acts.

          H1B visas take jobs away from Americans and allow corporations to impose misery on the imported workers, and the Patriot act and related violates our rights and makes us less safe (by diverting resources away from effective strategies like intelligence gathering).

          The relevant votes are shown below. The government doesn't care about our rights, and it doesn't care whether we have jobs. It has reached maximum damage.

          Trump might be the worst president we've ever had, but at this point in time, he's not *guaranteed* to be the worst.

          USA Freedom Act (Senate)

          YEAs: 67 (D = 43, R = 23, I = 1)
          NAYs: 32 (D = 1, R = 30, I = 1)
          Not voting: 1 (R)

          USA Freedom Act (House)
          https://www.govtrack.us/congre... [govtrack.us]

          YEAs: 67 (D = 124, R = 179, I = 1)
          NAYs: 32 (D = 70, R = 51, I = 1)
          Not voting: 2 (R) 5(D)

          Increase H1B Visas (Senate)
          https://www.govtrack.us/congre... [govtrack.us]

          YEAs: 67 (D = 52, R = 14, I = 2)
          NAYs: 32 (D = 0, R = 32, I = 0)

    • Jeb was already on his way to irrelevant, just another nail in his political coffin.

      We are about 5 months away from any "voting" taking place. That's a LONG time politically, where the public's attention span has a hard time lasting more than 2 weeks on anything. Jeb's got money so I'd not count him out. He's just biding time, as are a whole host of other candidates, sitting on their war chests and getting their ad buys ready for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.

      Right now it's all about getting enough money to make a good showing late in January and making it though the

      • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        The other reality and I am not sure even Jeb! gets it is that Trump is the best thing that could have happened to him at least as far as the primaries go.

        The whole "anchor baby" conversation the other day with him getting testy isn't good. What Jeb! needs to do if he wants to win is stay the hell out of the spot light. Let Trump continue to suck up all the oxygen.

        Trump will flame out sooner or later, he has too. Trump is smart guy but the rules of the game are different in politics there is only one Trum

    • This is a pretty clear play to appeal not to the voters, but the money. The military-industrial complex has a large part to play (some would say the only part) in choosing the nominee. Coming out against encryption this early allows him to appeal to the check-writers, and leave him plenty of time to do damage control with the voters later. Still incredibly tone deaf, and hopefully it's a play that doesn't pay off, but as far as establishment candidates are concerned, it's just par for the course. It would h
  • by Bodhammer ( 559311 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:34PM (#50362635)
    Jebby is a a RINO a best and most likely a New World Order statist.
    I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire...
  • by MacDork ( 560499 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:35PM (#50362653) Journal

    If you create encryption, it makes it harder for the American government to do its job -- while protecting civil liberties -- to make sure that evildoers arenâ(TM)t in our midst

    That sounds like a threat... "If you make encryption, we won't bother with protecting civil liberties any more."

    • I think we should establish privacy as a Constitutionally protected right under the 9th Amendment.

      • by OhPlz ( 168413 )

        You're fighting the wrong battle. Adding amendments isn't going to help, the government doesn't obey the ones that we already have.

        • You're fighting the wrong battle. Adding amendments isn't going to help, the government doesn't obey the ones that we already have.

          How true... We are ignoring a number of "inconvenient" amendments now..

      • I think we should establish privacy as a Constitutionally protected right under the 9th Amendment.

        it would an awful lot easier if the supreme court declared that your "effects" include your personal data, in which case we already have an amendment for that.

    • by Fire_Wraith ( 1460385 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:41PM (#50362747)
      "Those are some very nice civil liberties you have there. It would be a shame if anything were to 'happen' to them."
    • No, civil liberties are like mint in box collectibles. Only when the federal government puts your civil liberties securely away in a place where you can't use them can it truly protect them!

  • in other words (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I don't want to get elected but am doing this because they are making me

  • This makes it so much easier for me. I can now just store Passwords, Credit Card Numbers, and PI in plain text.
    • by cdrudge ( 68377 )

      Don't forget the cost savings too! No more need for ssl certs, developing secure infrastructure, DRM...

  • He lost my vote (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mrlinux11 ( 3713713 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:37PM (#50362687)
    I would vote for Donald Trump before voting for Jeb based on this issue.
    • Re:He lost my vote (Score:5, Insightful)

      by pla ( 258480 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @01:07PM (#50363059) Journal
      I would vote for Donald Trump before voting for Jeb based on this issue.

      I would vote for Don before Jeb for a lot of reasons. In fact, of the current Republican slate, I'd pretty much vote for Trump over all of them, because I consider him "mostly harmless" by comparison. I'd like to say I prefer Rand, but Rand has that whole "religiot" angle going that I just can't tolerate.

      Sadly enough, as a fiscal conservative (and social liberal), I'd actually call Sanders my candidate of choice so far. Yep - The self-proclaimed socialist shows more fiscal responsibility than all 38 GOPpers [slashdot.org] running.

      And they wonder why people don't show more interest in our elections...
      • That phrase, "mostly harmless" rings a bell [wikiquote.org].

        It was for the sake of this day that he had first decided to run for the Presidency, a decision which had sent waves of astonishment throughout the Imperial Galaxy -- Zaphod Beeblebrox? President? Not the Zaphod Beeblebrox? Not the President? Many had seen it as a clinching proof that the whole of known creation had finally gone bananas. ... The President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield po

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        Sanders and most other serious socialists are more fiscally responsible than the average Republican because they actually care about the condition that the government is in after they're through with it.

  • by Glarimore ( 1795666 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:38PM (#50362693)
    Collecting "meta-data" (really just data) about the context of people's phone calls is no different than collecting information on what library books people are checking out (which IS protected).

    It's a serious invasion of privacy.

    Is there a candidate who understands this?
  • One More Reason (Score:5, Interesting)

    by hduff ( 570443 ) <hoytduff @ g m a i l .com> on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:39PM (#50362705) Homepage Journal

    Besides being an asshat in general, this is one more reason not to vote for him.

    Which other candidates share this view?

    • Which other candidates share this view?

      Once they get into office it seems like most of them... They want whatever makes their life easiest and your civil rights can be damned.

    • by Macdude ( 23507 )

      Which other candidates share this view?
      All of them. That's the problem. Jeb was just stupid enough to say it out loud.

  • by erp_consultant ( 2614861 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:40PM (#50362721)

    It seems like every time this guy opens his mouth he makes another mistake. Trump is right about one thing - Bush is a low energy candidate. This guy looks like he has been dragged kicking and screaming into this campaign. He has little interest and fewer ideas. Anyone that is against encryption and in favor of expanding the Patriot Act won't get my vote. Time to hang it up Jeb.

  • Well this is historic. For once, a presidential campaign has a candidate specifically for identity thieves and credit card fraudsters.

  • When comes out against all this nonsense with passwords and door locks, then he gets my vote!

    .
  • by geggam ( 777689 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:44PM (#50362777)

    Ask those folks in Ashley Madison dump how they feel about encryption

  • by bjdevil66 ( 583941 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:45PM (#50362795)

    As a Republican, his views on encryption and the Patriot Act are not reconciliable with mine. I can scratch him off the ridiculously long list.

    What that said, it's pretty hard to get any politician not named Donald to truly speak his mind. Thanks, Gov...

    • by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @02:14PM (#50363849)

      What that said, it's pretty hard to get any politician not named Donald to truly speak his mind. Thanks, Gov...

      You think Trump is speaking his mind? He's not. He's telling people exactly what they want to hear and they are eating it up. He is tapping into the frustration against the establishment. He tried it with the birther movement the last time but that "controversy" was so ridiculous and contrived that there was no way he could ride it. But now he's found something with much broader appeal.

  • by sjbe ( 173966 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:48PM (#50362837)

    "If you create encryption, it makes it harder for the American government to do its job — while protecting civil liberties — to make sure that evildoers aren't in our midst."

    I will never vote for someone who uses the word "evildoer". The last guy to use it in office didn't work out so well...

    And I don't give a shit that it is hard(er) for the US government to step on my throat. We have restrictions on the government because the government has proven time and again that it cannot be entirely trusted. If they have to work a little harder I don't care at all. The Bad Guys aren't going to use weak encryption (unless they are stupid) and there is no reasonable argument that can be made that I shouldn't have access to it either. Bad encryption is effectively the same as no encryption and no encryption is unacceptable when using modern technology.

    He also indicated he felt the recent scaling back of the Patriot Act went too far. Bush says he hasn't seen any indication the bulk collection of phone metadata violated anyone's civil liberties.

    Then he is just as much of an imbecile as his brother. Jeb clearly has the same moral deficits as George. Trump may be a clown but apparently Jeb is much more dangerous.

  • by prefec2 ( 875483 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:48PM (#50362839)

    X \in Candidate and X \in Republican => isNuts(X) = true

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I propose the slightly stronger statement:
      X \in Politician => isNuts(X) = true

  • by haruchai ( 17472 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:49PM (#50362855)

    So are Clinton & Obama evil or not?
    And what about the big, bad government?
    Ah, to hell with all these posers, the most deserving is the guy who's been consistent all along anyway.

    SANDERS 2016!!

  • Why can politicians not shut up about things they do not understand? Obsessive-compulsion disorder?

  • by techstar25 ( 556988 ) <techstar25@gCHICAGOmail.com minus city> on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:51PM (#50362887) Journal
    There are (reportedly) 10,000 govt employees in the Ashley Madison hack that would probably disagree with you, Jeb.
  • by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @12:57PM (#50362949)

    Sorry, but there is no polite way to say it. Shut the fuck up if you don't have the foggiest clue what you're talking about.

    Lowering the encryption standard not only would make it easier for law enforcement to break the encryption of bad guys, it would also make it easier for bad guys to break into the secrets that do actually ensure your national security. And no, making some security services and three letter goons exempt from it won't change shit. There are still companies, government agencies and other entities that have to rely on secure encryption to ensure the security of the state you would swear to protect if (god forbid) you ever got to take the helm.

    There is also no such thing as a government-only backdoor. Such a thing would be like wanting a "secret" door in your house (complete with "secret door, do not enter" sign), secured with a padlock, where opening the door also immediately disengages all security alarms you might have (so the potential "bad guy" won't notice when government uses the supersecret government-only door). If you can't see just why this is a BAD idea, you should throw in the towel. And I don't mean in the presidential election, I mean in life.

  • by Jason Levine ( 196982 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @01:03PM (#50362999) Homepage

    "If you create encryption, it makes it harder for the American government to do its job — while protecting civil liberties — to make sure that evildoers aren't in our midst."

    I see the same appeal to laziness from the RIAA/MPAA when it comes to anti-piracy programs and law enforcement when it comes to actual anti-terrorism procedures.

    RIAA/MPAA: "Playing by the rules is too HARD! First you need to gather evidence. Then you need to file a John Doe lawsuit. Then you need to convince a judge that your evidence is good enough to get the person's name. Then you need to file a lawsuit against that person. Then you need to fight that lawsuit. Why can't we just say 'X did this wrong so destroy his computer'?!!!"

    Law Enforcement: "Playing by the rules is too HARD! First you need to gather evidence. Then you need to convince a judge that your evidence is good enough to get a warrant. Then you need to use that warrant to get more information. Then you need to arrest that person. Then you need to present that evidence in a court of law. Why can't we just say 'X did this wrong so we're tossing him in jail'?!!!"

  • "democrats bailed out banksters"

    "democrats take money from corporations"

    "obama admin spies on people"

    "obama uses drones"

    etc., etc.

    except on every single one of these policies, republicans are far more worse or openly promise, as jeb bush just did, to do far worse

    yet you have this amazing cognitive dissonance where right wing media will pillory democrats for doing something republican candidates do far worse. "as a republican, i hate that the democrats do {X}, that's why i will vote republican" (who will do far worse on X)

    at which point we have to address the air head idealists who will reject both parties and insist on ideological purity before they ever vote. thereby, making themselves not matter, and helping the guy further from them ideologically win

    we are talking about POLITICS folks. the very nature of the topic is compromise. with politics and voting your job is to steer the boat of your society in the right direction by putting your hand amongst thousands on the steering wheel. not refusing to help unless the boat magically transports to where you are at ideologically first

    you vote the party *closer* to you ideologically. that's as good a deal as you will ever get, in any society, ever possible. by refusing to participate until a choice matches you ideology, you are simply announcing your social immaturity and/ or stupidity on what politics is. it is YOUR job to wiggle a little bit in your ideological straightjacket and *influence*. rather than demand full ideological compliance before you participate. that's an ignorant temper tantrum

    that being said, my dream for 2016 is trump v sanders. then sanders can win as trump is a fucking joke, and i will vote sanders with glee, as i love sanders

    but if it's something like rubio v clinton, vote clinton! don't stay home ebcause it's not sanders. and if the contest is close, and enough air head idealist morons throw away their vote on sanders as a protest vote, or don't show up to vote, then guess what? then our next president will be rubio. and it's your fucking fault, for being an airhead idealist: you split the left wing vote. even though there are more on the left, you let the republicans win

    so i love sanders. but depending upon the nominees, i will be voting for clinton who stands a better chance of beating a serious republican contender

    that's called realpolitik

    that's call strategy

    idealism only gets you things like gwbush "beating" gore in 2000 (gore actually won the popular vote) because just enough morons on the left voted for nader when they should have voted strategically for gore

    that is the real effect of voting idealistically instead of realistically: 8 years of a republican moron who got us in a ruinous war and cratered our economy and moved us backwards on progress on social issues

    • by 0123456 ( 636235 )

      Dimwit.

      The last time the US government tried this was the Clipper Chip, back in the 90s. That was started by the EVIL REPUBLICAN Bush Sr, and continued by the LOVELY, FLUFFY DEMOCRAT Clinton.

      Fortunately, thanks to the fight against the Clipper Chip, the very idea of restricting encryption is now so insane that only idiots like Bush think it's actually possible.

  • by rs1n ( 1867908 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @01:48PM (#50363539)
    ...then promoting encryption is what will help. Think about it: it's always the government playing catchup to hackers when their (the government) systems are breached. And that's with encryption. If the "evildoers" wanted to do harm, removing or hindering encryption makes it that much easier for them (the evildoers, though I suppose the government could arguably be placed into this group, too).
  • by MagickalMyst ( 1003128 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @02:10PM (#50363815)
    Evildoers?

    Now where have I heard that term before?
  • by jmvidal ( 21345 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @02:15PM (#50363867) Homepage Journal

    Can't we say that the same reasons behind the constitutional right to bear arms can be applied to a right to use encryption?

    Isn't encryption already considered a "weapon" by the Pentagon?

  • Unencrypt (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MagickalMyst ( 1003128 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @02:36PM (#50364083)
    I'm against encryption too, Mr. Bush. I value our freedoms and security - just like you do.

    I'll tell you what.. I will unencrypt all of my files if you and your government do the same. Complete transparency.

    If you do, i'll even send you a list of all of my passwords and PIN numbers as well. Promise.

    Remember, this was your idea.
  • by tekrat ( 242117 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @02:38PM (#50364103) Homepage Journal

    Can anyone who's a member of the GOP *explain* why the party of "Smaller Government" always wants to expand government when it comes to spying on US citizens and expanding the military?

    Why does it always come down to "cut social programs because we're broke", but "no spending limit for bombs/aircraft carriers"?

    And while we're at it, can someone explain why "every life is precious" when it comes to abortion, but then have no problem thowing away lives on useless wars, and expanding the death penalty to include petty theft?

    Why will they spend every dollar to force an unwed mother to bring her child to birth and then refuse to support it in any way once it's out of her womb?

    And why are these questions NEVER ASKED at a "debate"?

  • by seven of five ( 578993 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @02:41PM (#50364125)
    Jeb Bush is not against encryption, just encryption for you.
  • by kimvette ( 919543 ) on Friday August 21, 2015 @02:46PM (#50364167) Homepage Journal

    > Bush says he hasn't seen any indication the bulk collection of phone metadata violated anyone's civil liberties.

    That is true of a sensible and benevolent government.

    However, your associations, even with casual friends, may land you on no-fly and watch lists with little to no recourse. Why are you on that no-fly list? How can you get off it? I can't help but wonder if casual aquaintances of the Tsarnaevs are on such lists just because they may have been study or workout partners, or casual friends, even though they never knew of their intentions. And yet, those evildoers were not on such lists despite urgent warnings coming from our frenemy Russia, who gave us names and dates.

    Time after time I read or hear about those who are on no-fly lists - including infants, and have been unable to learn how and why they came to be on those lists, and how to clear their names, and there is NO due process or accountability, which is REQUIRED by the Constitution, citing "national security concerns" even though the greatest threat to our national security is tyranny within our own government.

    And then, we have the "secret courts" which gag you; even if you do manage to clear your name and resolve the issue you cannot go to the media about your experience out of fear of reprisal.

    So yes, Jeb (nice white trash name by the way), there are indeed civil liberties volations. Our government is supposed to be transparent and accountable to The People, but it actually in practice is not. Congress makes laws from which they often exclude themselves, treating themselves as royalty.

    Are we really supposed to believe you, that our government is benevolent, when all the evidence as shared by Manning, Snowden, and Assange proves otherwise? Why on earth should we believe ANYTHING that you say when you believe the Patriot Act does not infringe upon our inalienable rights?

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