Is the European Union (EU) about to save the FBI from Going Dark by essentially outlawing end-to-end encryption? Jamil Jaffer and Nate Jones tell us that a new directive aimed at preventing child sex abuse might just do the trick. That view is backed by people who've been fighting the bureau on encryption for years.
The Biden administration is prepping to impose some of the toughest sanctions ever on Chinese camera maker Hikvision, Jordan Schneider reports. No one wants to defend Hikvision's role in enabling China's Uyghur policy, but I'm skeptical that we should spend all that ammo on a company that is far from the greatest national security threat we face. Jamil is more comfortable with the measure, and Jordan reminds me that China's economy is shaky enough that it may not pick a fight to save Hikvision. Speaking of which, Jordan schools me on the likelihood that Xi Jin Ping's hold on power will be loosened even by a combination of the Chinese tech downturn, harsh pandemic lockdowns, and the grim lesson provided by Putin's ability to move without check from tactical error to strategic blunder and then to historic disaster.
Speaking of products with more serious national security impact than Hikvision, Nate and I try to figure out why the effort to get Kaspersky software out of U.S. infrastructure is still stalled. I argue that the Commerce Department should take the blame.
