Politicians - technically ignorant at best.
The loss of life at the hands of Freedom Fighters/Terrorists is to be regretted and this last weeks tragic loss of life is made all the worse due to the victims young ages.
Encrypted communications would have done little to prevent this from happening, especially since it appears the man had just returned from his ancestral country of Libya. The device was TRIGGERED BY HAND.
The fact is that notwithstanding pouring BILLIONS OF POUNDS into to MI5, GCHQ and the Plod, all we have to show for it is some historical video tape and a list of To Visit addresses. The head of MI5, the prime minister (former Home Secretary for years) and the present loon who calls herself Home Secretary should RESIGN. The explosion is testimony to their abject failure.
Why, pray tell, did the Plod go calling AFTER the event? Other jurisdictions go a-calling on a regular basis just to let their potential clients know they are under observation.
And most anything the government proposes will fail - which, again, the incident attests to.
I work for a company who designs military equipment for non-aligned (read not American) countries and I can attest to how easy it is to make IEDs, triggers, etc. The average supermarket has all I need to make a loud bang.
Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), made from explosive forms of acetone peroxide, belong to the few high explosives that do not contain nitrogen (think fertilizer), and so can pass undetected through most sniffer devices. TATP is easily made, with extreme care, following visits to your local chemist/drug store/pharmacy, and the ironmongers/hardware store.
When I was in the British military, we were taught how to make explosive mixtures from common household chemicals (cleansers, polishes, etc). I know how to make anyone in a decent sized room with a lamp (one of those things with a filament) and a common fuel imitate John Clease's famous parrot.
The much vaunted British security services haven't progressed much since 2005 July 7. Stopping encryption is not the answer, as the first explosion after such a ban will prove.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
