Encryption: One Of The Most Powerful Ways To Keep Data Private – But Governments Want To Outlaw It
Today, October 21, marks the first ever organized Global Encryption Day, dedicated to spreading awareness of the importance of utilizing encryption to protect sensitive information, both when it is in transit (e.g., online chat messages going over the Internet between you and your significant other) and when it is at rest (e.g., pictures stored on your phone).
When we think of encryption, we should realize that, today, the following is all true:
It is so important to do,
And so easy to do,
But so many people still do not do it,
And now governments want to outlaw it.
From the United Kingdom Home Office’s misleadingly named No Place to Hide anti-encryption campaign, to India’s Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, to Australia’s Assistance and Access Act of 2018 and its 2021
Surveillance Legislation Amendment, to various chatter emerging from Washington, DC, the rights of ordinary citizens to protect their private conversations, pictures, videos, and files is, sadly, under assault even in ostensibly free countries.
I have prepared a short video discussing the issue – please feel free to watch the video below.
If you would like to learn more about why I have, consistently throughout my multi-decade career in information security, opposed laws that prohibit citizens from encrypting their data and communications as they so desire and see fit – and why you should oppose such laws as well – please see my article The Government Wants To Dramatically Weaken Your Encryption. Here Is Why It Should Not.
To close, I quote Benjamin Franklin, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
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