Why The Government Shouldn't Break WhatsApp

Encryption backdoors - breaking WhatsApp and iMessage's security to let the government stop Bad Things - sounds like a reasonable idea. Here's why it isn't.
CREDITS:
Filmed at the Cambridge Centre for Computing History: www.computinghistory.org.uk/
Camera by Tomek: / tomek
Thanks to everyone who helped proofread my script!
REFERENCES:
WhatsApp's privacy protections questioned after terror attack: www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-...
WhatsApp must be accessible to authorities, says Amber Rudd: www.theguardian.com/technolog...
UK government renews calls for WhatsApp backdoor after London attack: www.theverge.com/2017/3/27/15...
Investigatory Powers Act: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2...
India is 'ready to use' Blackberry message intercept system: www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-...
Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security: www.theguardian.com/world/201...
Councils secretly spied on people walking dogs and feeding birds for five years: metro.co.uk/2016/12/26/council...
[This is basically a rephrase of www.theguardian.com/world/201... with a better headline]
Poole council spies on family over school claim: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknew...
Security services missed five opportunities to stop the Manchester bomber: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/...
Reuters reference to "500 active investigations": www.reuters.com/article/us-bri...
AP: Across US, police officers abuse confidential databases: apnews.com/699236946e3140659f...
ME:
🟥 MORE FROM TOM: www.tomscott.com/
(you can find contact details and social links there too)
📰 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER with good stuff from the rest of the internet: www.tomscott.com/newsletter/
❓ LATERAL, free weekly podcast: lateralcast.com/ / lateralcast
➕ TOM SCOTT PLUS: / tomscottplus
👥 THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: / techdif

[@TomScottGo]

This is the first video from "The Basics", a series of three pilot computer-science videos I'm putting out in the next couple of months. This one's opinionated; one's explanatory; and one demonstrates coding. It's been a while since I've done this sort of thing -- thanks to the folks who helped proofread my scripts!

[@Calum...]

Tom Scott 2 weeks ago wtf

[@meijboomm]

how is this comment from 2 weeks ago, while it is just uploaded now?

[@drrice1123]

Tom how is your comment already 2 weeks old?

[@19palmeri]

"2 weeks ago" wtf but really was your lav mic off?

[@jonathanschossig1276]

D Meijboom It wasn't uploaded now. It was *published* now. That's a difference.

[@joeyverliesharen]

I have nothing to hide... but the government doesn't need to know that

[@toucaninterieur8011]

They've always known it, budd. And if you use windows + chrome + google then you're extra-screwed.

[@WorstDeveloper]

You have nothing to hide.... from people who are exactly like you. You have a lot to hide from many people who are in power around the world.

[@jimbomchooch6007]

awesome, i'm keeping that as a quote

[@myslmysl]

@CodeBit. Briliant, noting that one down.

[@martinshoosterman]

Ya, no reason for the government to know how much of a square you are.

[@watashiwajigabudesu9662]

Government: "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." Also Government: *hides literally everything

[@glitchysoup6322]

Your social credit score has been reduced by 50 points

[@celestialtree8602]

To be fair, they do have stuff to hide because they do have stuff to fear. As an extreme example right off the bat, nuclear launch codes. You do NOT want those in others' hands, hell you don't even want 'em in your own citizens' hands.

[@watashiwajigabudesu9662]

@@celestialtree8602 average law abiding people have plenty to fear too, thats more to the point.

[@Spartan322]

@@celestialtree8602 Security through obscurity doesn't work, you're still trusting individual humans to not press the button, that button has almost been pressed numerous times, its quite literally been a fluke from God that none of the times we nearly nuked the world ever went fall through. And that aside eventually obscurity always fails, it should never be relied upon.

[@watashiwajigabudesu9662]

@@Spartan322 the topic is more about privacy and ownership of one's information, not about effective security practices

[@butterworthfilter8403]

"They pay...some tax" I love that hesitation

[@sodiboo]

What exactly is meant by “some tax” though, fairly certain they don’t really pay tax...

[@jacobschweiger5897]

Terrain they pay federal taxes, property taxes, and there shareholders pay tax when they get dividends. But they get a discount on local San Francisco taxes becuase San Francisco doesn’t want them to leave

[@Destin5258]

@@jacobschweiger5897 I wonder why. The Bay Area was a lot nicer before all the tech companies moved in.

[@privateryan2125]

@@sodiboo those companies have “ways” to get out of paying all the tax they need to pay.

[@ryhanzfx1641]

@@privateryan2125 capitalism baby!

[@woodsytheowlscharedcorpse4761]

As CGP grey said "It is impossible to make a lock that angels can open and demons cannot, anyone who says different is either ignorant of the facts or less of an angel than they appear"

[@OriginalCreatorSama]

oh i like that quote! who's CGP though?

[@woodsytheowlscharedcorpse4761]

@@OriginalCreatorSama Another “educational” KZbinr on the platform who doesn’t really seem to have a specific genre of stuff they talk about.

[@fractal5764]

@@JamesMacTavish Hexagons are the bestagons

[@woodsytheowlscharedcorpse4761]

@@spoon7195 I think it was I Phone or something like that?

[@NotTheIRS]

@@spoon7195 A video about hexagons exclusively

[@unclephil4112]

Let's just put everyone in prison so criminals never get away

[@Digalog]

OZZZIE

[@scritoph3368]

@@passatb6break communism is the best economic system on paper. It would never work in real life since people are greedy or just assholes, hence all the horrible communist dictatorships we've had.

[@rory_person_being]

@@passatb6break Communism literally has nothing to do with imprisoning people. It's an economic system. Yes, communist nations imprisoned a lot of people, but so have nations that are not communist. The common thread is authoritarianism, not communism, which is it's own thing.

[@lieven4770]

@A China's conversion to being..... CAPITALIST!? LMAO!

[@metaparalysis3441]

@@Digalog Uhh i'm not in jail and i'm "OZZZIE"

[@kelbiekelbie909]

"Arguing that you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say" - Edward Snowden

[@EpicGuyJC]

hiding things and expressing them are essentially opposites, they can't be compared like that.

[@frereit]

Oh, didn't see you commenting that already, i posted that too, the quote is just so awesome..

[@kisielthe1st]

If free speech is not the right to talk or not the right to talk without consequences then what it is you bootlicking moron? Right to independent thought without the ability to share that independent thought? Voltaire said, _To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you're not allowed to cricitize_ Freedom of speech is synonymous to freedom of expression. And the definition of expression is clear and plain. Anti hate-speech laws, anti-libel and anti-slander laws are forms of censorship no matter how hard you try to pretend otherwise. It's just that certain group of people collectively agreed that such censorship is desired.

[@timrthoward7007]

Kevin Kelbie bender

[@jasondashney]

What's the difference between having to hide vs not being able to express?

[@MenacingBanjo]

"'Nothing to hide' only works if the folks in power share the values of you and everyone you know entirely and always will." I love this quote.

[@mysterioushoodedguy2332]

Government: *Doesn’t break WhatsApp security* Facebook: “Fine, I’ll do it myself.”

[@RayDeoZa]

I came back here for that

[@stanleylim4458]

Facebook is the government

[@jatomeer9605]

As someone who doesnt keep up with almost anything related to facebook, what happened?

[@Dorumin]

@@rainsseason9617 end to end encryption is still the default, I dunno what you're talking about

[@DarthMakroth]

@@Dorumin ikr, i read the privacy policy when it happened and it's really not that bad, people like to act clever leaving when stuff like this happen

[@greenredblue]

The phrase “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear” is only used by people who don’t realize how easily and often they break the law. There’s a *good reason* why lawyers tell people never to waive their right to remain silent even when they think they’re totally innocent.

[@Damogen]

Also, I have a bunch of completely legal stuff I definitely want to hide.

[@greenredblue]

Damogen Welp, I’m convinced. Definitely only bad people need secrecy and privacy. That must be why governments so often rely on it. :P

[@Paroex]

@@greenredblue I actually think they may have been sincere in what they wrote, agreeing with you. Maybe they have a history of viewing pornography on their computer which is completely legal (+18 years, mutual consent) but may still be viewed with skepticism or disgust by friends, family, employers, etc. because it falls outside the realm of commonly "accepted" sexuality.

[@greenredblue]

Paroex It’s so hard to tell in text... :( I’d hoped to split the difference by phrasing the response as a joke, but I guess I failed.

[@xGOKOPx]

@@greenredblue Honestly the point of what Damogen wrote was obvious to me, I don't really understand how it can be understood in a different way

[@gregorflopinski9016]

The issue with the saying: ‘’if you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about’’ is that the government can change what is and isn’t ‘’wrong’’

[@xX_wiLLiam_Xx]

Plus u arent just gonna abandon privacy just because u arent doing anything bad

[@goodtrailer0]

I agree with you that it's a really stupid argument, but AFAIK when the law changes, you can't be prosecuted for incidents that happened before the law was changed.

[@johnwhite1534]

@@goodtrailer0 Not yet...

[@johnwhite1534]

@@goodtrailer0 That is fact right now but you cannot be certain a government of the future will honor that.

[@nessanderson6460]

@@goodtrailer0 Except it can and has changed. There's loads of cases where people are being prosecuted for what they did before a law was changed. Is that broadly an ex post facto prosecution? Yes. But they've built enough exceptions and workarounds in that in practice there's nothing stopping them. Especially if you can't afford a lawyer to do a *lot* of heavy work.

[@Zatsuiki]

I heard someone say: "If you have nothing to hide, your life must be very boring."

[@troodon1096]

Having a boring life is the greatest protection against someone violating your privacy. Just don't have any secrets anyone wants to know.

[@lucykitsune4619]

@@troodon1096 Or you do it like Trump: have so many scandals that whenever a new one comes along people will be like "Ah another one. Throw it on the literal mountain of scandals and put the rug that stopped covering all of them up ages ago back over it..."

[@zappyapp]

Just watch MLP and boom you got yourself a secret to keep

[@Spartan322]

@@troodon1096 Too bad it is impossible to not have secrets and compromising vulnerability as a human, there is not a nation where any citizen does not continuously break the law, if those laws become more harsh and/or more surveyed over, you will find it easy to arbitrarily put people in jail.

[@doodoo2065]

I'm hiding lotsa sexual fetishes, and probably 90% of the population hides that they pick their noses.

[@azrieljale]

Having a backdoor in the messaging apps so they can look whenever they want what you typed about, is like having to record what you spoke with your friend about in a private place, and if you dont record it, youve committed a crime and are going for 10 years in jail.

[@longbow6416]

Big brother is watching

[@PlayTheMind]

Videos like *this* should be on the trending page, not "hot knife slices fidget spinner"

[@Fluetify1]

sounds like a cool video though...

[@araincs]

This video is pointless because backdoors that allow messages to be captured before encryption is applied already exist on all mobile devices. Its just political theater, if they want to get someones messages they can do it already.

[@MazeFrame]

Let me suggest an alternative title to get to trending: "The governments want to watch you have sex"

[@gernsey7362]

i'd like to see a source for that claim..

[@araincs]

gernsey Wikileaks vault 7. You can go read the original CIA documents covering it right now if you have any agency of your own or you can just live in the illusion that encryption does anything for you.

[@nat040496]

"Illegal feeding of pigeons" tyranny starts off small.

[@damagedlykin]

Saint-14 would be proud

[@Yuki-bk2my]

@@damagedlykin that's such an obscure reference, I love it

[@oliveredwardlatimer8037]

Unfortunately, that's the least-worst thing that Allerdale Borough Council have done over the years. I should know, as they happen to be my local council.

[@capreesan302]

Oi you av' a loicense to feed those birds there? Stop illegally feeding you naughty boy

[@archiebellega956]

Tbh you shouldn't feed the birds. That's how you get those birds there, and speaking of birds, I mean shits and like literally shits.

[@CT-if2tt]

If you think you have nothing to hide: have you ever whispered something to another to keep others from hearing? Have you ever closed the blinds on your windows to keep others from seeing in? Privacy is a human right. We must never allow a government to infringe our rights.

[@Sam-nt3vv]

"nothing to hide"' only works if the folks in power share the values of you and everyone you know entirely and always will. This is important

[@QFSW1024]

"They pay... _some_ tax"

[@Carewolf]

Probably. Though I am sure it's an error and the responsible has been fired.

[@nitebomber51]

"error" "responsible" "fired"... Sure, More like given the tax savings as a bonus

[@mestopig]

Godzilla McDolan You know that big companies aren't just made of a group of executives, it's also the janitors and office desk employees. If you over tax all big companies you hurt everyone

[@MattOGormanSmith]

If you threaten to tax corporate profits, that provides the incentive for the company to invest in staff (with a similar tax burden) or capital equipment (with a lower burden). The rate of corporation tax is usually lower than top-rate income tax, so the director/owners are not incensed to pay themselves the entire profits.

[@zingadooda]

Best quote in this video by far

[@thomasscott407]

God he knows about the illegal bacon trading ring I need to warn the others.

[@oscarnemo8084]

All is discovered. Flee at once.

[@4ickyy]

I think he was talking about being lynched and hunted in India if you are suspected of eating Beef.

[@dutchvanderlinde7144]

At least he doesn't know about the illegal crawfish racing olympics

[@somethingclever1128]

psst hey kid you want some cheeky nandos

[@willygrags4367]

Governments are mad that they can’t listen in on every conversation

[@troodon1096]

Let them stay mad. They work for us; we don't work for them.

[@andrewnevermind4902]

No but they can pin point words to flag up. They have no right. They're clearly inept.

[@IIO7142]

Well,don't worry they can join them.

[@ambiancegallery6688]

The funny thing is when people say 'I've got nothing to hide' is that they've obviously not considered their financial details. Most people I know like to keep those...what is the word now, oh yes - HIDDEN. The antipodal of 'nothing to hide'.

[@OlanKenny]

"If there's a backdoor it can and will be abused." Enough about your weekend Tom

[@coooooooooool1000]

Olan Kenny Black Premium sillicone... cantquiteremember...

[@GrantWitherspoon]

Ouch

[@MrTrickBrick]

*whoosh*

[@memk]

Simon WoodburyForget That's exactly the point. If the unintentional "backdoor" are already hard to catch, an extra intentional backdoor will make the situation ever worse. Not to mention the "backdoor" itself is ALSO a feature, hence it will have it's own bugs. And, the reason no hashing algorithm has ever been proven to be secured is because the natural of software testing: You can NEVER prove a software is bug free, EVER. How ever many test case(s) you can provide there is ALWAYS more test cases to be tested.

[@kashu7691]

memk do you hear that whistle?

[@rrni2343]

There is a non-zero chance that this will develop from "when they need to" to "when ever we bloody feel like it" and thats how you get a surveillance state.

[@iAmTheSquidThing]

Given historical precedent, I'd say theres an approximately 1.0 chance.

[@asthmen]

Approximately. To within 0.0% error.

[@cyancoyote7366]

Well, there is indeed a pretty huge probability of that happening in the 100> years to follow, that's for sure. This is one of the less fortunate things that may occur. Nevertheless, I would be blissful to see Bitcoin actually replacing traditional, centralised currency, and thus creating a worldwide, decentralised currency for everyone to use freely.

[@argenteus8314]

The surveillance state already exists, this would "just" be destroying the last shred of resistance against it, encryption.

[@kristoffer3000]

Already have a surveillance stae, bud.

[@derekstuart5234]

One of the main reasons I like looking through Tom's videos is that by starting at the beginning and working forwards, I am seeing how opinions (and warnings) have evolved over time. The scandals rocking the very core of the British establishment now might have been suspected or even hinted at in 2017, but to see how the past 4 years have unfolded. The great irony is that the government (both the current one and the last one) have been really keen on breaking any encrypted services- yet they themselves have been caught repeatedly using the same services (mostly whatsapp) to hide their own dodgy dealings. This is like looking back into time watching these excellent videos.

[@mrp0001]

Any relevant video links to this topic? I might be interested

[@tsm688]

@@mrp0001 but it remained a mystery

[@nemtudom5074]

The thing is, privacy is the smallest problem here. The bigger problem, is that if the governments put backdoors into the encryption, malicious attackers WILL exploit that. Its not a question of if they can, its a question of how soon. It may take them a year to figure it out. May take them only two days. Its completely wild and unpredictable, and they only have to get in once.

[@Potoaster]

“If you’re trying to find a needle in a haystack, don’t add more hay, get more people looking for the needle”

[@TimorDa]

How do you apply that to this video?

[@RogerNbr]

@@TimorDa needle = potential criminal hay = group of people allowed to be spied on to find him more people looking for the needle = higher funding and time for investigators that how I see it

[@chesrerusgay1502]

@@RogerNbr i dont see how hay is making the process of finding the needle any easier unlike the people allowed (by a smaller margin than the public)

[@athirkell]

Add more needles ✅

[@angryyoungman4389]

Either Burn down the haystack or use a magnet

[@bakedbeanishdragon]

Who came back here to check for the noise

[@artspooner]

I did, can't hear anything though. I must be old :(

[@Crackrzz]

Same. Me too. :(

[@Crackrzz]

Same. Me too. :(

[@ohokcool]

It's deafening, I have a headache now, mom can't hear a thing

[@browser1611]

Me. I could hear it, but initially my brain blocked it out. It sounded like a slight ringing in my ear.

[@ZeldagigafanMatthew]

Another issue: traditional wiretaps only provide data for as long as the investigation is lawfully ongoing. If someone nabs the decryption key however, they have access to everything, not just what you're doing in the course of the investigation, but everything before, and depending on how often keys get rerolled if at all, going into the future. Sure, after the investigation, police technically lose the rights to access this data, but keeping the key is something that can be tossed into a folder, lost among the jumble of other keys that are being kept illegally. Wiretaps can be removed and verified removed. If you know where to look you could easily rip it out yourself and if the investigation is still ongoing, set up some shreddifying booby traps to kill whatever poor soul has been contracted with installing a new tap.

[@paddor]

Just so you know: Whatsapp backups are unencrypted. On Facebook's servers.

[@sf8262]

I believe messages are not encrypted when backed up to google drive or icloud, rather than Facebook servers.

[@aperture0]

@@sf8262 You're 100% correct!

[@bigkoi1015]

@@aperture0 Yo when you gonna purify corona ?

[@aperture0]

@@bigkoi1015 I'm trying. I'm using my powers in the form of vaccine. You gotta wait

[@alexatkin]

Their own terms state: "We can't see your personal messages or hear your calls, and neither can Facebook: Neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can read your messages or hear your calls with your friends, family, and co-workers on WhatsApp. Whatever you share, it stays between you." While I assume the decryption keys must be stored somewhere, so they can push them to a new device you add to your account, there would be no good reason to store backups unencrypted and in fact it would be hugely complicated as each user has a different decryption key so a single users chat log could have tens or hundreds of different keys needed to read it back.

[@darz_k.]

Somebody quoted Edward Snowden in the comments, and I'd like to add another one of his also.. he said: ''Saying that you don't care about your right to privacy because you have nothing to hide, is no different than saying you don't care about your right to freedom of speech.. because you have nothing to say''

[@Darkwell0071]

Darz K. This more comical than insightful.

[@ArchOwl]

Darkwell0071 Not really? Privacy is similar to freedom in that both allow people to act in ways that they otherwise couldn’t, whether due to governmental oppression or social stigma. Do people abuse privacy? Sure, but people arguably abuse freedom all the time too. The reason why, say, the Westboro Baptist Church even exists is because of free speech protecting them. Yet no one explicitly calls for bans on free speech. Bans on privacy under the reason that terrorists have privacy is dishonest at best and malicious at worst. Privacy is simply inward freedom, while free speech is outward freedom.

[@DemirSezer]

the fact that the comment u said is right above this is awesome

[@doomse150]

It always baffles me that people quote someone who deliberately broke the privacy of government employees about the importance of privacy

[@vishnureddy3977]

The main issue is that politicians lack an understanding of technology to make them qualified enough to create effective public policy.

[@hikari_no_yume]

The politicians here understand the technology perfectly, or certainly their advisers in the civil service do. It's just that, well, the government will never entertain an argument that posits the government can have too much power.

[@PetTheDamnDog]

Too right. We need someone in power who has the necessary hashtags, and who knows this 4chan character personally.

[@oari1150]

AlphaMikeOmega Hey that's in civ 5... incase you also heard it from civ 5

[@Jetsetlemming]

And Conservatives are definitely never going to entertain an argument that prevents them from exploiting fear of terrorism and general "bad guys" for electoral advantages. Being reasonable on privacy is directly contrary to being Chicken Little about security.

[@QuizBowlKing]

That is true about almost all areas of public policy though: economics, environmental science, health care, education, flying aircraft, building bridges, etc. Even though they lack the professional knowledge, they have to decide the laws that govern all of these realms. They should take the effort to learn about these subjects, but no politician could be an expert in all areas of policy.

[@taguetrash]

"Oh, [x] is compromised? Alright, let's move our criminal plotting to [y]"

[@tantalus44]

"Nothing to lose, nothing to hide." And who decides that?

[@Splitface2811]

And now the Australian government has gone and done just this. Politicians who have no grasp on the technology we use every day should not be able to make decisions for laws related to tech.

[@flaberpengu]

The USA is working on doing this right now. Shocker, the politicians are (mostly) tech-illiterate!

[@ildesu789]

@@flaberpengu They are not tech-illterate, politicians know exactly why they are doing that.

[@ahmadmohammed496]

Splitface2811 I know I’m a year late but could I get an update of the situation from someone that’s informed(you),I dont know about the situation and looking to learn more

[@ciarangale4738]

Hey same questipn as the other guy, can ya fill me in on this cause i have no clue but want to

[@motbus3]

I am sorry, but I disagree. not with what you said. by the matter of fact people in charge are pragmatic. they want the power to abuse if necessary, they are not truly comprised with the population needs. also many politicians wants to enforce the limits to understand what they need to do to escape from the police.

[@sam08g16]

Tom has an insane skill of explaining anything with such clarity and in one single take. I really admire it.

[@jhmatrix]

It's really satisfying to not see any cuts, he's fantastic and every single video is worth watching.

[@xxxx85]

Crap. When this video was posted, I remember hearing the sound and being appalled. Now I hear nothing wrong at all. I'm getting old. :(

[@saminchowdhury]

I love the fact that Tom went like: ''Apple and Facebook,, They pay...... some tax''. Followed by an eyeroll.

[@Exurb1a]

As always you're the voice of reason, Tom. Behind you with all of it.

[@Unirule]

exurb1a Please do a video on the phrase nothing to hide nothing to fear

[@davidawakim5473]

What a Surprise running into you here.... I Love both yours and Tom's Channel. Maybe you two should Collab? I Think it would be Awesome!!

[@mendmywings7238]

exurb1a of course the most thought provoking and interesting content creators would find each other. i would love to see a collab x

[@gilangrr21]

exurb1a whoaa you are here

[@StefanNicolaeTodea]

@exurb1a notice me senpai

[@raydlee.mobile]

I hereby nominate Tom Scott as an ambassador for the electronic frontier foundation.

[@TheBodgybrothers]

Godzilla McDolan I hereby support your support for his nomination by giving you a like.

[@bigmother8830]

I hereby support your support for his support for Tom Scott's nomination by giving you a like.

[@anselmschueler]

*for the position of

[@JVSkellington]

I'm very glad I've found the video with a high pitched noise Tom mentioned in another video. And it makes my "there's a crt TV turned on nearby" sense activate.

[@GenghisClaus]

I'm just glad I'm still young enough to hear the high pitched noise... barely

[@Bozothcow]

6:55 Suddenly I realized that you did this all in one take. Now I'm very impressed.

[@Camaleonte9087]

Telepromter

[@arf101088]

if youre interested enough in something, you dont need to write a script or practice. imagine talking to a friend about your hobbies and past-times, except its about obscure locations and topics, and also your friend is actually a camera that is recording a video for hundreds of thousands of people to see, at a minimum.

[@Ele20002]

@@arf101088 That's true, but the best speeches have usually be planned because you realise how to explain the concept better as you go, and especially remember details such as the introduction and conclusion to get the point across better.

[@IBeforeAExceptAfterK]

@@arf101088 Even when talking to a friend, people inevitably trip over their words a bit no matter how passionate they are on the topic. A pause to think, a verbal backspace, we're always stumbling a little bit when speaking off the cuff and our brains just unconsciously filter it out in conversation.

[@makemylogic]

*No system of mass surveillance has existed in any society that we know of to this point that has not been abused. - Edward Snowden* Videos like this needs to be in "trending" and should go viral, but we all know what goes on in trending. I have noticed that videos like yours got hit hard by demonetization on youtube, and have been systematically suppressed. Are you also dealing with limited or no ads Tom ?

[@JQ3B94]

makemylogic KZbin don't want that to happen

[@hewwocrazinessproductions4609]

Joewhyman lmao KZbin doesn't handpick videos for demonetization unless they violate the monetization ToS. It's not opinion-based. It's just their rules. But you are right, this *should* be monetized.

[@kevinhart4real]

It's sad how nearly all of the videos on the "trending" tab are for entertainment, instead of education. :/

[@kinamiya1]

leeisateam yeah there is one or two videos on trending that are educational but its in a way that is for entertaiment This type of video is really interesting but not entertaining for everyone but i agree with you that there should be more educational videos that goes on trending

[@3ngin33r7]

"entertainment *instead of* education"? The whole point is that education should be entertaining not only because people will want to learn but also if you're interested in something, the information will stick much more easily. Entertaining education is more efficient, the same amount of time spent learning, but more things learned and the time it takes to forget it is longer.

[@dylanbarber697]

That high pitch ringing coming from those CRT monitors is really bringing back some memories

[@SunIsLost]

True

[@Galacsia]

Oh that noise definitely takes me back! I didn't think I would feel some nostalgia with it.

[@yadinandyanay]

“Nothing to hide as long as the government in power has no problems with you or anyone you know forever” Great way of putting it bro ily

[@clementm5417]

The thing is a future gouvernement you don't trust could just as easily pass that law and abuse it than just start abusing it if it already existed

[@CharlesFreck]

@@clementm5417 It is much harder for a bad intentioned government to pass a bad law then it is for a good intentioned government to pass a bad law. The well intentioned government might not face nearly as much backlash, and it might pass by unnoticed, while the ill-intentioned government will be criticised for it's every move. Therefore, we must treat every single government as though they are always attempting to become Nazi Germany, or Imperial Japan, even if they only ever have the best intentions. Because you cannot trust someone who has more power then you, to act in your best interest.

[@ChrisCarter1138]

Tom, did you or your staff create the line, "Nothing to hide only works when you and the folks in power share the values of you and everyone you know, entirely, and always will?" It is the best line in the video, and I would really like to know if it's original to your speech.

[@cgarzs]

Me too. Epic line. I shall remember it.

[@PuddintameXYZ]

cgarzs Indeed. That is a very helpful line in making nearly any point about government invasion of privacy. Very well said.

[@marcinwolcendorf3821]

Well, I like asking "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" folks for their internet banking password for just 15 minutes. I pinky-promise I won't do anything they wouldn't with it.

[@fouzanium]

This has not aged well for WhatsApp

[@AvenFurness]

Sad that this is now extremely close to happening.

[@mopedmarathon]

“If there’s a back door, it can and will be abused.” Been trying to point this out to my girlfriend for years...........

[@artysanmobile]

mopedmarathon Ouch! Literally. I’ve been laughing out loud all by myself for about 2 minutes. Not at any perceived cruelty or misogyny, those just aren’t me. But just the pure comic strength of your post. Are you a professional comic? Very damned funny.

[@osuFlashie]

@@artysanmobile You high?

[@artysanmobile]

iFlashie Ummm... not at the moment

[@RoseInTheWeeds]

You also have a backdoor...

[@Rcthans]

You should work in comedy.

[@afzalh07]

" you might have nothing to hide from your government but, government changes, laws change" well said !!

[@InventorZahran]

"Saying you don't care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is just as nonsensical as saying you don't care about freedom-of-speech because you have nothing to say." -Edward Snowden

[@jasperdiscovers]

the absolute king of the 1-take videos. Awesome work Tom!

[@justgame5508]

"Nothing to hide nothing to fear" leads to a society of oppression, everyone has some part off their life they like to keep private it's human nature. Kurgestat did a great video on this topic for anyone interested it's called "Safe but sorry" definitely worth a watch

[@ngastakvakis4425]

Kurzgesagt*

[@M1ST3RFOX]

Someone add a link pls

[@thejay8963]

Actually “Safe and Sorry”

[@SamTheEnglishTeacher]

When I hear that old line (invariably from a boomer), I simply ask them "cool, can I film you going number two?" The answer, of course, is always "no". That usually helps them understand why privacy is necessary and important - even for themselves and people like them.

[@GN-Aaron]

@@SamTheEnglishTeacher Sorry, am learning English as a second language, could you tell me what "going number two" means?

[@Bolpat]

Back in the day: I cannot tell you this, the government may have wiretapped our phone. Today: Wiretap, please order detergent.

[@wpgspecb]

HA!

[@harleybaker]

Wiretap play despacito.

[@becauseimafan]

@@harleybaker 😂

[@jsturm5hk8h]

Wiretap = KZbin (Alpha bet, Inc.)

[@jomama3465]

Dang, I was only right here for the computer nerdy stuff, but you made me more aware of the issues in the society. You're one of the greatest presenters out there and I mean it.

[@GeeHer]

anyone else hear an extremely annoying very high pitched noise?

[@mezzer34]

“Cheery was aware that Commander Vimes didn't like the phrase 'The innocent have nothing to fear', believing the innocent had everything to fear, mostly from the guilty but in the longer term even more from those who say things like 'The innocent have nothing to fear'.”

[@Verklunkenzwiebel]

Snuff - Terry Pratchett

[@dansaunders1655]

Love a bit of Discworld. Great

[@funny-video-YouTube-channel]

The criminals will win, if we are forced to adopt to their level of thinking. Stealing privacy is a bad thing.

[@billoddy5637]

This guy should play Shakespeare! He's got the voice.

[@encryptlakegames5328]

Your privacy is everything and should never be sold out to anyone especially the government.

[@iagreewithyou7894]

encryptlake games. What if the government would need to know when an attack was gonna take place

[@PGraveDigger1]

@@iagreewithyou7894 They usually do, but don't have the manpower to react appropriately. Just like Tom says in the video, the government was warned about the Manchester bomber 5 times, so they knew, but they didn't act accordingly. And there is the argument that privacy is more valuable than safety. Especially since no one person can know every law of the country they're in, so there is a very high probability that everyone is breaking a law all the time, without even knowing about it. Giving up privacy so that everyone that breaks the law can get caught is simply impossible, especially since every member of government is probably also breaking laws that they don't know about.

[@SamTheEnglishTeacher]

My dear I fear they already have.

[@NeWZzZzzz]

Just a small note: although it definitely gets the point across, it is generally not true that encrypting converts messages to "what looks like random noise", at least under the standard cryptographic definition of pseudo-randomness. We have PRNGs for that. The output of encryption algorithms can be hard to decrypt and still satisfy restrictions that random strings do not. For a brief discussion on this, check for instance Goldreich-Goldwasser-Micali "How to Construct Random Functions" (Section 2). Anyway, nice video, Tom. Huge fan. :)

[@NeWZzZzzz]

@Kimmy Anfo not only true, but very easy to see. Pad a 0 to your favourite secure encryption scheme, and it will still be secure according to whatever definition you are using. Indistinguishability-style security definitions do not imply pseudorandomness. Read the reference I've given.

[@antonievandermeer34]

7:10 USA are doing some lovely mental gymnastics with this currently.

[@jowsey]

Nobody: The computers in this video: ₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑₑ

[@bananya6020]

jokes on you my earbuds are so crappy they can't even play this frequencies

[@Cheesecannon25]

@@bananya6020 _cries in good earbuds_

[@hoovypootisman1957]

after 7 minutes of listening I don't hear it

[@nyunno]

it hurts so much

[@Cheesecannon25]

@@nyunno it helps a bit if you listen at a much lower volume without earbuds I hope this helps

[@noisyshaun]

The most perfectly put argument against back doors. I even considered them valid myself until this but you've convinced me Tom.

[@johns4588]

"Nothing to hide, nothing to fear" is a quote minted by the Minister of Propaganda during Nazi Germany.

[@Sorenzo]

I'm just gonna say it... The government isn't supposed to know everything illegal you do. It's not supposed to know every time you listen to a concert you didn't pay for, or forget to pick up a piece of litter, or drive a bit too fast because you're late for work. The reason we have laws is to constrain the arbitrary rule of government officials - it's a democratic constraint on the executive branch - and NOT to give them power to judge you at every moment in your life. This is a fact that authoritarian personalities want us all to forget.

[@imponerendeschultz]

fr?

[@quidprobro]

Privacy is a basic human right, and the massive surveillance by governments has not stopped a single terrorist attack. Police agencies should not have full access to our communications.

[@Kaleidophoenix]

JakeTheHammer I wouldn't go so far as to say that the massive amount of government surveillance hasn't stopped any terrorists, but I agree that privacy is a right, and in some cases, I think that the government needs less power.

[@quintessenceSL]

The problem is privacy is vague. It's well enough to discuss this strictly in terms of encryption, but what about digging through your trash, paying your neighbors to keep tabs on you, or monitoring your credit reports? All Tom has addressed is the means, not the actual meat of maintaining privacy.

[@robertlinke2666]

they have stopped loads of 'em, but would you wanna hear, that every odd day they stopped another psycho? no, offcourse not. the problem here is a 1 liner: the bad guys only have to get it right once, we have to get it right *every* time

[@windhelmguard5295]

peopel who are willing to sacrifice their freedom for security should just go home and crawl under their beds. infringing on the rights of the many in order to fight the few who do wrong, is not ethically sound in any scenario.

[@adamfrisk956]

Privacy doesn't work in not homogenous society. Import people from the Third World, don't read their conversations and then be surprised when one of these people blows up 20-30 of your countrymen at a concert.

[@cookieface80]

This video is once again relevant.

[@RaskaTheFurry]

"if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" is such a flawed argument. We have come a long way, thanks to people like Kafka and Orwell who really put a deep thought into this question.

[@TheAkramCat]

i have no basis to go on but i think terrorists are smart enough to not hit up their co-terrorists on messenger and say - EYO JOHNNY LETS BOMB THAT MALL THE OTHER WEEKEND YEAH? - OKEY DOKEY CHIEF SOUNDS FUN

[@Mocsk]

you should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity

[@CookieGalaxy]

true but I don't think we should be scared of the stupid terrorists, I think it's the clever one who DONT use messengers that we should be more focused on.

[@Enourmousletters]

Ironically its more concerning when a group of people that were talking alot on social media etc suddenly all limit their interaction online, that's when you get concerned.

[@adamv6753]

I agree with you. Terrorism is a huge scapegoat used for another agenda. This other agenda is what we should truly fear. Terrorism is an illogical fear, especially when your chances of dying by almost anything else is much much higher.

[@Kirarak]

They could communicate using sarcastic comments under some slightly related KZbin video and nobody would suspect a thing. P.S. Message received.

[@sashsepehran7580]

#KeepOurNudesSafe

[@montydurand467]

Finally a cause I can support

[@analu9476]

Yes👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@BaldricksTurnip1]

Why aren't people in the UK shouting about the banning.of WhatsApp and Signal ‼️

[@nicksisimple]

Besides having one of the (imo) most interesting channels on KZbin, also providing such a variety of subtitles is just impressive. What a cool community. 🖖🏽 (Yes of course I decided to comment on the latest video 😄)

[@WAYAWAYWithAsh]

😳 "sounds like a reasonable idea"... glad I watched to the end, I was worried for you for a bit.

[@ZardoDhieldor]

That clickbait... or watchbait? How do you call it?

[@asthmen]

Suspense.

[@djdjukic]

Frankly it doesn't even sound like a remotely reasonable idea to anyone who's lived in an oppressive regime, not that West Europeans would know that.

[@myslmysl]

In five seconds i came up with three western European nations that did live under oppressive regimes during the last half century. Never mind that, i am sure you just wrote hastily. The problem is the thinking that the government will always be targeting someone else or "I do not care about politics" until the government "invites" you and your family to mass "support" rallies or the police come to your home because your kid uploaded a video of him and friends singing " i am so happy" on a rooftop.

[@SuperElephant]

Not clickbait, but video intro bait for you to watch the whole video..xd

[@CakestheCheese]

This video is particularly important now that Australia has just passed a bill on 'Anti-Encryption'.

[@BudBonkerson]

Sucks, doesn’t it? Wish they’d take more action on the people they’re apparently keeping tabs on, rather than nosing on what every single civilian is doing.

[@EddieB-ready]

Is that law still going? Just curious

[@fuckgoogleforever]

@@EddieB-ready How often do laws get removed from the books?

[@oz_jones]

Penal colony penalizes people? Say it isnt so

[@randomtravelinstinct]

Awesome video Tom. Interesting, very informative and extremely apt in the current scenario. This is truly important, "who is holding the keys"!!!

[@quokka_yt]

"I haven't got anything to hide" Well let me sit next to you with a clipboard the whole day. The only difference between me and your phone is your phone won't get tired or distracted.

[@Sillimant_]

I have nothing to hide. But politicians do. Hypocritical slime balls should have no power like that

[@shafarifky]

"Like a lot of ideas is sounds reasonable in one or two sentences, but the devil is in the detail". Spot On

[@ciarangale4738]

That made me think of communism. A society where everybody shares everything they have with everyone sounds great, but i suppose its just never been done in a good fashion

[@mohamedbenguerraiche1616]

Legally speaking, "nothing to hide' means the end of privacy. Pure and simple.

[@arkanrais]

2017: "we need more police so they can actually do their job" 2020: "police arrest people for mean words on twitter while stabbings occur across london on a regular basis"

[@GreatKnightJ]

This comment isn't a dogwhistle, it's a dogfoghorn

[@nunyabusiness3786]

@@GreatKnightJ For what?

[@priyanshugoel3030]

Think about it what would improve their image more per unit of effort reqiured.

[@n00dl3]

This is the most necessary conversation the UK needs to have. I'm glad there are people like you to explain the technical side of this debate in a clear and concise way.

[@Phipston]

I really want that mouse. Looks like the cybertruck.

[@saintrhoads3375]

Yooooo. It does.

[@woahrajveer]

@Mohamed Hassan elon made a life size wireless version

[@blackbed5108]

@@woahrajveer hold up

[@JoeySchmidt74]

Atari ST, you can probably find them on eBay and, iirc, you can convert them to serial to use on a PC or Mac!

[@thndr_5468]

Love that car

[@angrytedtalks]

Very well thought out. And brilliantly articulated. How do you deliver continuous smooth dialogue in a coherent order for 11 minutes without even a cut?

[@greynolds0031]

That was an excellent video - you explained complicated concepts brilliantly. Bravo

[@Yoni0505Blogspot]

"nothing to hide nothing to fear" is a bad argument, because you're not the one deciding what you have to hide. Also someone can put fake stuff under your name. EDIT: oh you just said it.

[@penguim616]

i can hear the squeak of the computers in the background, and my ears are dying

[@NessKwik0]

peter zieger thank god someone said it

[@ricebeansrockroll882]

My ears are apparently dead.

[@BlackMeowgic]

@@ricebeansrockroll882 maybe you're just old enough that you can't hear that frequency anymore

[@LioncatDevStudio]

Wait y'all can hear the sounds? I can't hear the computers

[@christianwatt2924]

having a backdoor in encryption completely defeats the purpose thats like having a spare key under your mat but because its the law to do so everyoine knows you have a key under your mat somewhere they just have to find it

[@thetayz72]

If you've nothing to hide, you won't mind this nice glass house ...

[@_xxpegasusxx_7204]

me : *start watching this video* my own FBI agent : *sweats heavily*

[@spiralgaming8940]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@spiralpinata6992]

That's me

[@levitikan]

here is a reason why back doors are bad. The latest versions of ransomware was only possible because of a back door the NSA found and used without telling microsoft. It was only fixed once the ransomware got onto a hospital server and hit the news.

[@georgf9279]

That wasn't a backdoor. A backdoor is placed purposefully. The recent security flaw was an oversight in the Windows code. Also not every backdoor gives you full access to everything. It could be read-only for example. Still I agree with the statements, that Tom made about backdoors being a bad idea.

[@chris210]

That was fixed ages ago last year as I recall reading, it was simply that people in these organizations didn't update their software

[@tj12711]

levitikan That wasn't a backdoor

[@PatrikKron]

Christopher Parsons the major security flaw used in WannaCry was fixed 1-2 months before the ransomeware spread, but since many computers do not get updated, especially in absolute critical situations (at hospitals for example) it spread like wildfire

[@peksn]

levitikan what's a hospital server

[@cricticalthinking]

just looked at this channel...and this guy is good really really good. compelling and thought provoking points of view.

[@MKBergins]

Your videos are amazingly well done, highly informative, and precise. Thank you for making such content, your way has encouraged me to start making my own KZbin videos. Keep being awesome.

[@DarkNexarius]

"If you have nothing to hide" is a stupid argument. Everyone has something to hide. It is called privacy. If you have nothing to hide then why are you not livestreaming every room of your house at all time?

[@KarstenOkk]

Nexarius tom covered this. more importantly, things that are legal now might not be forever.

[@johnsanvictores6639]

Nexarius no you're wrong. It's not if you have anything to hide, but if you are doing anything illegal. You are also comparing two different things. Being open to the public is not the same as a handful of people reading your messages... I'm all for this if it can help stop attacks from happening

[@whereszwildo]

Dan Maloney; but that's exactly what Tom meant when he said "subject to abuse". if there's a backdoor for anyone, it's potentially accessible to everyone.

[@Verklunkenzwiebel]

If a citizen obeys the law then he has nothing to fear from his government. Josef Goebbels. So yeah, let's trust our governments ! If you have nothing to hide is a cool argument. Problem is, you don't know yet what you want to hide tomorrow.

[@RWoody1995]

it can't stop attacks though, as said in the video if encryption became illegal or had backdoors put into it then criminals/terrorists would just download an illegal application instead of the legal one and we're back at square 1.

[@outaspaceman]

My refusal to be on FB now seems entirely sensible..

[@toogaytofunction3029]

Preach+

[@tscoffey1]

Facebook isn't encrypted, so your point is tangential at best.

[@mayukhmisra99]

If you have any friends in Facebook, who may have ever posted something about you, that alone gives a lot of information about you. Not to mention Google and other such services.

[@Grapevin]

Yeah, Facebook keeps a ghost profile for you even if you've never made an account for yourself. If family or friends ever talk about you, they log it. You could literally never even use the Internet, but if your mom talks about you all the time, there's nothing you can do about it.

[@PvblivsAelivs]

I refused to be on facebook on the grounds that I don't like to give out my actual name. It's none of their business.

[@peckychicken]

I hate it when I try to keep something a secret and get asked "Why are you not telling me? Is it something bad?" 99% of the time its not. It's just that it feels private to me

[@Kent__official]

This is the channel I have been searching for my whole life

[@pluto9000]

Took you long enough. He has quit making more videos but you can watch all the old ones.

[@Cogmania]

@@pluto9000w comment

[@MickeyKnox]

“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” - Benjamin Franklin

[@bobalo8705]

Couldn't be more true

[@jcd327]

Even years can go by and someone somewhere can see that you were wrong with them quotes

[@HZAD91]

What you see on the trending page: -Music -Movie trailers -Fidget spinners -Useless vlog channels you never heard of -Celebrity gossip shite -Makeup tutorials What you should see in trending: -Educational videos like this one

[@rigille]

Harris Z Why do you have to worry with what everyone else is watching?

[@Berniebud]

Rigille Scherrer Borges Menezes Because videos like these could help prevent moronic laws from being passed if they were being shared enough.

[@megasonicgeo]

Harris Z saw one of Tom's videos on trending last week.

[@GFmanaic]

What's interesting to realize is that we used to criticize TV for pushing this content... but disruptive media like youtube do the exact same thing. One can ask if the media is the problem or if it is that people's interests do not match what they declare to watch. For example, we have a TV channel in France called "Arte", which shows a lot of art, and documentaries. It is very often mentioned in "what do you prefer watching" polls, but their viewership numbers shows a very different story.

[@CableFlame]

@Kyle Sutton Trending should be exactly that. Trending. If you're pushing a video that isn't trending, then it's not trending. I mean, I'm all for having a "cool videos" or "interesting stuff" videos category (that stuff like this is in) right at the top, that's shown to people pretty often. But if you're going to call it trending, then it needs to be what's actually trending. (God forbid that words should actually mean something, and that you get what it actually says you get instead of something else.)

[@BreezyMedic]

im using this video for an assignment about about backdoors in messaging systems, this really helped a lot thanks :)

[@francoisdurocher4951]

That is an outstanding pièce showing a the very mature thinker you have become❗️ I am a fan.