According to reports US lawmakers and the Department of Justice want to ban end-to-end encryption in the name of protecting the children. This could have implications for cryptocurrency.
Encryption Embargo
The reports are suggesting that Attorney General William Barr has questioned the use of encryption to turn devices into ‘law-free zones’.
The primary concern is firms like Apple which have full control over their devices and refuse to provide a backdoor to aid law enforcement in criminal investigations and other matters of national security.
US Senator Lindsey Graham, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is drafting a new bill that could potentially outlaw the use of encryption in the name of protecting children. He has repeatedly called the iPhone a ‘safe haven for criminals’.
At the White House Summit on Human Trafficking last week Barr joined those calls with his views on the technology.
“We all recognize that encryption is important in the commercial world to protect consumers like us from cybercriminals, but now, we’re seeing military-grade encryption being marketed on consumer products like cellphones and social media platforms and messaging services, and that means that we cannot get access to this data.”
Senior staff lawyer in the Center for Democracy at the American Civil Liberties Union, Brett Max Kaufman, said encryption reliably protects consumers’ sensitive data. He added that technology providers should continue to make their products as safe as possible and resist pressure from all governments to undermine the security of the tools they offer.
The new draft bill called the ‘Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act’ will modify the Communications Decency Act’s Section 230 to make companies liable in state criminal cases and civil lawsuits over child abuse and exploitation.
Many of these suggested best practices such as offering parental controls and setting age limits are acceptable but the bill also requires tech firms to ‘preserve, remove from view, and report’ and material as well as retain any evidence that may pertain to such cases which effectively turns them into digital crypto cops.
If passed, the law would also require companies such as Telegram to allow backdoor government access to encrypted information. This would also provide a ‘golden key’ vulnerability for hackers and malicious actors. It may also affect the cryptocurrency industry.
Cryptocurrency Impact
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee commented on the possible implications to the cryptocurrency industry.
“If true, would have some negative impact on crypto and digital assets which are grounded by cryptography”
If true, would have some negative impact on crypto and digital assets which are grounded by cryptography https://t.co/Rze94Oo916
— Thomas Lee (@fundstrat) February 5, 2020
Cryptocurrency does not appear to be the target here and the concerns are largely focused on the likes of Apple which keeps a tight leash on its products, even from its own customers.
Digital finance is a completely different arena to social media and data, especially involving minors, so it is unlikely there will be any great impact on decentralized crypto assets.
Will the new law affect cryptocurrency? Add your thoughts below. The post appeared first on Bitcoinist.com. origin »
SoftBank, a Japanese telecom and internet company, released the SBC Wallet Card. This a card that incorporates multiple features, including its encryption system and a cryptocurrency wallet. SoftBank pushes forth the adoption of blockchain technology On Dec.
Special thanks to Justin Drake and Jinglan Wang for feedback
In 2014, I made a post and a presentation with a list of hard problems in math, computer science and economics that I thought were important for the cryptocurrency space (as I then called it) to be able to reach maturity.
Around a year or two ago this time, it would’ve been laughable to suggest that China is going to become a global center for fintech innovation. Yet here we are today. China just passed a law regarding data encryption and cryptography that is set to be implemented in early 2020.
A quantum computing breakthrough by Google has created all sorts of dooming scenarios for existing encryption standards, which could ultimately threaten the security of every major blockchain. The day has finally arrived, as Google recently claimed quantum supremacy according to a disclosed paper.
Emisoft has released a free fix for the WannaCryFake variant of the WannaCry ransomware that has been targeting businesses since 2017. The software aims to help users get access to their encrypted data without paying the ransom demanded by hackers.
At least a dozen media outlets have cited a Bloomberg contributor saying that NASA was working a quantum cryptocurrency. However, the journalist was referencing the work NSA has been putting into developing encryption that would be resistant to quantum computers, showing just how little research is done in today’s fast-paced news cycle.
Telegram’s blockchain and cryptocurrency projects, one of the most anticipated in the industry, is approaching its release date. Telegram is one of the biggest social media companies, and it is popular for its privacy and encryption functions.
A cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency that had been created with the help of technology. Through advanced encryption techniques known as cryptography, the backbone for cryptocurrency was created ten years ago.
Its digital ledger, as well as encryption technology allows for the secure storage and sharing of digital currencies (cryptocurrency). Blockchain is beneficial to the mining industry because it provides transparency and security in transacting business, changes made in documents, designs and other aspects of any transaction.
One of the fascinating, and frustrating, aspects of the broader cryptocurrency space is the prevalence of trusted third-parties in an ecosystem built on the notion that trusted third parties are security holes.
By CCN: Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is underway, and while most of the focus is on iOS3, Apple quietly revealed a new upgrade for developers called CryptoKit. Apple also released its new icon set for designers which feature four bitcoin logos.
WhatsApp has confirmed it was subject to spyware that allowed the attacker to read a target’s messages, as reported by MIT Technology Review on May 14, 2019. The hackers accessed messages after penetrating WhatsApp’s encryption through a flaw in the voice call feature.
Cryptocurrency was first created by Bitcoin in 2009. Today, hundreds of other alternative variants of Bitcoin, or other cryptocurrencies have been created and they are known as Altcoins. A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency which is designed to work as a medium of exchange.
Crypto Wallet platform TrustWallet has introduced an amazing and helpful feature to its platform. The feature, named WalletConnect, is an open protocol for connecting desktop based DApps to mobile wallets with the aid of end to end encryption.
CryptoNinjas
Trust Wallet, the official cryptocurrency wallet of Binance with built-in DApp browser, today announced a new feature, WalletConnet, an open protocol for connecting desktop DApps to mobile wallets using end-to-end encryption.
Cryptocurrencies, according to the dictionary, are “a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.
What Is ILCOIN? Developed by ILCoin Dev. Team, ILCoin is an advanced cryptocurrency integrated with SHA-256 encryption and Proof-of-Work (PoW) technology. The cryptocurrency seeks to power a new, global digital currency-based economic system where members of the system can generate earnings or spend trade and store the ILCoins and in doing so, benefit themselves while growing […]
CryptoNinjas
Enjin Wallet, a cryptocurrency wallet application that utilizes the latest NSA-grade encryption and supports over 700 cryptocurrencies including non-fungible ERC-721 and ERC-1155 tokens has today revealed that their next wallet update.
IOTA Foundation, the company wanting to be the cryptocurrency for the Internet-of-Things (IoT), has just launched a new hash function, and it’s dishing out shares of a $220,000 (200,000 euro) bounty to anyone that can crack it.
CryptoNinjas
Enjin Smart Wallet, a mobile cryptocurrency wallet that utilizes NSA-grade encryption, has announced that its next update will enable users to melt down ERC-1155 tokens into Enjin Coin (ENJ), allowing developers to back their assets with ENJ.
Based on blockchain technology, most cryptocurrencies have an open and public ledger of transactions. While this is required for these system to work, it comes with a significant downside: privacy is often quite limited.
Bitmain, one of the largest cryptocurrency mining ASIC manufacturing companies, announced on Sept. 21 the release of new SHA-256 mining rigs at the World Digital Mining Summit in Georgia. SHA-256 is a common cryptographic encryption algorithm used in several industries and is what Bitcoin uses to secure its network.
Malware, a persistent thorn in the side of the internet’s wider community, has become an increasing concern for cryptocurrency users. A problem that comes in many forms, malicious software is leveraged by hackers to rob community members of their funds.
It appears that messaging app Blastchat – which was recently selected for Kik’s $3 million cryptocurrency developer program – has been caught storing sensitive user data, including passwords, in plain text.
Origin Protocol, one of the early initial token offerings listed on CoinList, has announced the launch of its new decentralized messaging service. Origin’s latest offering could challenge encrypted giant Telegram, which, while not decentralized, is widely used within the cryptocurrency community.
Quantum Computers Could Steal Your Bitcoin – Here’s How Offering to break the monotony of regulated fiat currencies is perhaps one of the key selling points of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
“Virtual currencies are processed cryptographically, a miner is the machine that supports this encryption process. If you mine Bitcoin, you can process 12. 5 bitcoins in 10 minutes, which would be the equivalent of 10 million yen, (US$ 90,000).
A few warning signals and conflicted statements later, the RBI finally pulled the plug on cryptocurrency exchanges. On July 06, a near-complete crackdown—at least temporarily—on cryptocurrencies will take hold in India.
BitUN made history by releasing the world’s first enterprise-level cryptocurrency cold wallet hardware on May 21st. The wallet boasts of a Secure Boot and Efuse mechanism in the hardware CPU which gives a secure experience to the user.
The shift has already started; finance is moving onto the blockchain, leveraging the decentralization and disintermediation benefits of the technology’s architecture.
GPS, the GoPlus Security native token, is making its Binance debut with an airdrop event prior to its listing. The token has surged more than 15% since its listing announcement. On March 4, Binance announced it will be distributing GoPlus…
A girlfriend of the British man accidentally threw away his hard disk with roughly 8,000 bitcoins on it in 2013. The years of legal battle for the right to retrieve the disk from the waste dump resulted in nothing. These…
A new malware is targeting cryptocurrency wallets and other sensitive information of web3 professionals by disguising itself as a fake meeting application. According to cybersecurity firm Cado Security Labs, the malware, dubbed Realst, has been active for around four months,…
Blockaid, an on-chain security platform with partners including Coinbase, Stellar, and Metamask, has announced its integration with World App, the self-custody wallet of World Network. This integration aims to enhance security for World App users and developers. The wallet, developed…
Phantom, the non-custodial crypto wallet for decentralized finance and non-fungible tokens on Solana, has announced its acquisition of web3 security platform Blowfish. The Solana (SOL) based cryptocurrency wallet disclosed the transaction on Nov. 19, noting in a blog post that…