The Intercept just published an amazing article by Jim Bamford yesterday talking
about how the NSA exploited a backdoor in Vodafone to spy on Greek
politicians and journalists during the 2004 Olympics.
Bamford is an American author and journalist best known for his writing about United States intelligence agencies, and in particular the National Security Agency.
In a meticulous investigation, Bamford reports at the Intercept that the NSA was behind the notorious, legendary “Athens Affair”. After the 2004 Olympics, the Greek government discovered that an unknown attacker had hacked into Vodafone’s “lawful intercept” system, the phone company’s method of wiretapping voice calls. The attacker spied on phone calls of the president and other Greek politicians and journalists before the hack was found out.
Freedom of the Press Foundation director Trevor Timm wrote for the Guardian about why this is exactly why encryption backdoors are so
dangerous.
What are encryption backdoors? For non-techie readers, basically these are ways the government can unencrypt your “locked” communications if they decide they want to see your private material for any secret reason.
And in related news, rumor has it the White House is nearing a decision on
whether to embrace the right to encryption for American citizens, or join the FBI in calling for backdoors.
Dozens of civil liberties groups, including Freedom of the Press Foundation, launched this site
and petition today that feeds into the White House petition system: savecrypto.org.
If you care about this issue, right now is the time to take action.