We don't have to speculate; there's already a real world example of this in action, right here in the good ol' USA. Perhaps you've heard of the Salt Typhoon hack? It involved exploitation of a backdoor in place under mandate of U.S. federal law regarding (CALEA). Salt Typhoon Hack Shows There's No Security Backdoor That's Only For The "Good Guys" BY JOE MULLIN AND CINDY COHNOCTOBER 9, 2024
There's a major change in the air multinationally in terms of government intrusion in the name of various forms of 'security' and going after 'bad actors.' The credibility involved varies but the 'big picture' is ominous.
1.) The U.S. ban against Huawei and ZTE. Turns out that's not just a U.S. concern:
Huawei and ZTE bans in Europe will trigger response, China warns China's government brands the EU's proposed new Cybersecurity Act as protectionism, inviting charges of hypocrisy. Picture of Iain Morris Iain Morris,International Editor,Light Reading May 6, 2026
2.) The big TikTok ban and reversal drama.
3.) CALEA in the U.S., which I'm told has been expanded upon over time. This mindset isn't so new; way back in during the Clinton administration, there was a system called Carnivore that triggered concerns. And that was before A.I. could potentially better 'understand' (metaphorically) e-mail content, etc.; imagine what they could do with it now! Wikipedia page on Carnivore (Software). Wikipedia page on Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
4.) Edward Snowden's revelations.
5.) The DJI Drone ban. That's being fought - article from yesterday in PC Magazine. DJI Urges Customers to Speak Up, Tell the FCC to Stop the Drone Ban The FCC is accepting public comments on its ban until Monday, May 11, and DJI is trying to rally more affected consumers to the cause.
6.) Move to control 3-D Printers. From PC Magazine May 5 - The Government Doesn’t Just Want to Ban Ghost Guns. It Wants to Control Your 3D Printer New laws are targeting not just 3D-printed weapons, but the digital files, platforms, and machines that create them, raising questions about innovation and who decides what can be made. As a longtime member of the 3D-printing community, defined by its openness, I'm concerned.
7.) Hugely, the recent U.S. ban on foreign-made routers in the name of 'national security,' which has a range of concerns about making the problem worse instead of better, paranoid exaggeration of risk, running up costs, reducing competition and rate of innovation, implausibility of moving manufacture to the U.S., risk of corruption in exemption-granting process, etc. Discussed at length with multiple resources on MacRumors forum at US bans foreign routers - reason enough for a new Airport?
8.) Per the article by MacRumors (above), in February 2025 "the British government demanded that Apple give it blanket access to all encrypted user content uploaded to the cloud. Apple refused, and instead pulled its Advanced Data Protection iCloud feature from the United Kingdom."
9.) Now we've got the Canada thing going.
10.) Age verification and efforts to obstruct VPN use and threaten vendors with liability risk. This is multi-national, but Utah recently put in a law here in the U.S.
Lawmakers Want to Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They're Doing BY RINDALA ALAJAJINOVEMBER 13, 2025
Australia just made a major move and you can bet other governments are watching:
This type of thing has far-reaching efforts; I've seen a YouTube presentation on the Linux community response to mandatory age verification at the OS level, largely defiant, and that can potentially exclude OS access.
11.) How many data breaches need to be reported in the news, and how many e-mail notifications do you or I need to get that our info. was involved in a data breach and was found on the 'dark web' to realize there is no absolute data security?
12.) Some European nations are turning to Linux rather than Microsoft Windows due to concerns about security - due to a foreign nation (United States!)-based company not under their thumb is a concern for at least some I believe. Google regarding France and Germany.
I used to disdain China's exclusion of some U.S.-based social media platforms to maintain ideological control over the Chinese people, and China has been criticized as a 'surveillance state.' Well, right here in the 'Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave,' we're heading into 'pot calling the kettle black' territory.
National security, protecting kids from porn, enhancing the ability of law enforcement to go after alleged law breakers, there are multiple rationales but the common theme is greater control by government over platforms and intrusion into our privacy.
My points from this:
1.) Look at the Canada effort in the context of the big picture - multi-national intrusive control efforts to pursue government agendas (some laudable (e.g.: protect kids), some maybe not).
2.) A regulation passed in one place (e.g.: requiring age verification) can have far-reaching effects elsewhere.
3.) Threatening platforms with the liability burden can extort compliance in ways that restrict us all.
4.) Backdoors create vulnerabilities and there's a history of exploitation.
5.) This regulatory effort isn't new but is gaining momentum fast and nations are watching each other, and I imagine seeing how much pushback these efforts get.
6.) The go-to workaround, VPNs, is under attack.
There's a major change in the air multinationally in terms of government intrusion in the name of various forms of 'security' and going after 'bad actors.' The credibility involved varies but the 'big picture' is ominous.
1.) The U.S. ban against Huawei and ZTE. Turns out that's not just a U.S. concern:
Huawei and ZTE bans in Europe will trigger response, China warns China's government brands the EU's proposed new Cybersecurity Act as protectionism, inviting charges of hypocrisy. Picture of Iain Morris Iain Morris,International Editor,Light Reading May 6, 2026
2.) The big TikTok ban and reversal drama.
3.) CALEA in the U.S., which I'm told has been expanded upon over time. This mindset isn't so new; way back in during the Clinton administration, there was a system called Carnivore that triggered concerns. And that was before A.I. could potentially better 'understand' (metaphorically) e-mail content, etc.; imagine what they could do with it now! Wikipedia page on Carnivore (Software). Wikipedia page on Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
4.) Edward Snowden's revelations.
5.) The DJI Drone ban. That's being fought - article from yesterday in PC Magazine. DJI Urges Customers to Speak Up, Tell the FCC to Stop the Drone Ban The FCC is accepting public comments on its ban until Monday, May 11, and DJI is trying to rally more affected consumers to the cause.
6.) Move to control 3-D Printers. From PC Magazine May 5 - The Government Doesn’t Just Want to Ban Ghost Guns. It Wants to Control Your 3D Printer New laws are targeting not just 3D-printed weapons, but the digital files, platforms, and machines that create them, raising questions about innovation and who decides what can be made. As a longtime member of the 3D-printing community, defined by its openness, I'm concerned.
7.) Hugely, the recent U.S. ban on foreign-made routers in the name of 'national security,' which has a range of concerns about making the problem worse instead of better, paranoid exaggeration of risk, running up costs, reducing competition and rate of innovation, implausibility of moving manufacture to the U.S., risk of corruption in exemption-granting process, etc. Discussed at length with multiple resources on MacRumors forum at US bans foreign routers - reason enough for a new Airport?
8.) Per the article by MacRumors (above), in February 2025 "the British government demanded that Apple give it blanket access to all encrypted user content uploaded to the cloud. Apple refused, and instead pulled its Advanced Data Protection iCloud feature from the United Kingdom."
9.) Now we've got the Canada thing going.
10.) Age verification and efforts to obstruct VPN use and threaten vendors with liability risk. This is multi-national, but Utah recently put in a law here in the U.S.
Lawmakers Want to Ban VPNs—And They Have No Idea What They're Doing BY RINDALA ALAJAJINOVEMBER 13, 2025
Australia just made a major move and you can bet other governments are watching:
This type of thing has far-reaching efforts; I've seen a YouTube presentation on the Linux community response to mandatory age verification at the OS level, largely defiant, and that can potentially exclude OS access.
11.) How many data breaches need to be reported in the news, and how many e-mail notifications do you or I need to get that our info. was involved in a data breach and was found on the 'dark web' to realize there is no absolute data security?
12.) Some European nations are turning to Linux rather than Microsoft Windows due to concerns about security - due to a foreign nation (United States!)-based company not under their thumb is a concern for at least some I believe. Google regarding France and Germany.
I used to disdain China's exclusion of some U.S.-based social media platforms to maintain ideological control over the Chinese people, and China has been criticized as a 'surveillance state.' Well, right here in the 'Land of the Free, and the Home of the Brave,' we're heading into 'pot calling the kettle black' territory.
National security, protecting kids from porn, enhancing the ability of law enforcement to go after alleged law breakers, there are multiple rationales but the common theme is greater control by government over platforms and intrusion into our privacy.
My points from this:
1.) Look at the Canada effort in the context of the big picture - multi-national intrusive control efforts to pursue government agendas (some laudable (e.g.: protect kids), some maybe not).
2.) A regulation passed in one place (e.g.: requiring age verification) can have far-reaching effects elsewhere.
3.) Threatening platforms with the liability burden can extort compliance in ways that restrict us all.
4.) Backdoors create vulnerabilities and there's a history of exploitation.
5.) This regulatory effort isn't new but is gaining momentum fast and nations are watching each other, and I imagine seeing how much pushback these efforts get.
6.) The go-to workaround, VPNs, is under attack.
