Re: A legal work around?
> If it's breakable encryption then it will be broken quickly, if it's unbreakable encryption it will take a little longer.
The only thing that will brute-force AES256 that most "strong" encryption uses, if it has a good passphrase, is a working quantum computer with more than a handful of QBits (256 Qbits, perhaps? I'm not sure how they work) as well as a very high speed, which as I understand it is unlikely. However, all of this ridiculousness about banning encryption, to me means one or more of:
1. They DON'T have a quantum computer powerful enough to break even the most basic encryption, and they won't for some time. They are worried that the terrists will get the upper hand, and they think they can legislate it away. See #4.
2. They DO or very soon WILL have one, and the plan is to gently break the internet and force businesses to find some alternative before quantum computers become commonplace and completely bugger up everything. I personally believe this is NOT the case.
3. Whether or not they can break it, They just want to fuck with you. Whoever complains the loudest must be a terrorist/paedophile/dissident. Welcome to Theresa May's Police State.
4. They simply haven't a clue. This may be true of Amber Rudd, but I think May is much more canny. Rudd on the other hand famously didn't know the difference between a (generating) power station and a transformer substation, despite being secretary of state for energy. As Home Sec she'll just do exactly what she's told by May.
In summary: Welcome to New Britain. As I said before the brexit: The one politician who benefits the most from voting leave was Theresa May - even ignoring the fact that it made her into PM with a sock-puppet Home Sec - the main thing holding her back was that the EU had a nice moderating effect on would-be totalitarian states. Now that we've "Taken back control", she can do whatever she likes. No more Human Rights Act, and no more pesky appeals to the ECHR. Soon we'll have indefinite detention without trial, like they have in the States, a ban on anonymity online (swipe your government ID card to access the internet, all posts with your real name please) and obviously a ban on hiding anything from government scrutiny, i.e. encryption. And anyone who objects too loudly will get a knock on the door from Theresa May's National Crime Agency.
Anon, while it's still legal.
Actually I just looked up what it would take for a Quantum Computer to break AES256 and apparently it is quite hard. Basically it would take a quantum computer just as long to crack AES256 as a normal computer takes to crack AES128, which is a very long time..