Thread by @astepanovich

I'm so old I remember when experts were saying we need more encryption to address the current cybersecurity threats. lawfareblog.com/most-email-isn…
You know, last week.

Lest we forget, the UK already has draconian anti-encryption provisions in its law, as well as authorization for "bulk hacking," two words which never cease to send chills down my spine.

The case for encouraging greater development and use for encryption has been well-documented, and has only grown stronger over the years. You can see the history at encryptioncompendium.org

Let's dig back into this article, specifically the claim that end-to-end encryption will "prevent any access to messaging content" because it's simply not true. There are a ton of other ways for law enforcement to get access to content for investigations and prosecutions...

We know this partly because there have been successful prosecutions of individuals even where e2e tools are used. A few options - other conversation participants, the device itself (if in custody), hacking the endpoint (allowed in UK law even if I have qualms)...

And the number one way, through human intelligence and information - infiltrating the network and uncovering where the content is coming from. E2e doesn't "prevent" any access. What it does is ensure that access isn't cheap and easy, something important to protecting the data...

protecting both from bad actors as well as from company misuse- you can be assured a company won't use your data in ways you don't want or sell it if they never have it to begin with. That's why encryption is so vital to human rights.

Which isn't to say that the problems in the article - child exploitation and abuse - are not real, significant issues that we need to be paying attention to and devoting resources to. But that doesn't have to-- and shouldn't -- come at the expense of global cybersecurity.

That's why the Lawfare article I started with is calling for *more* encryption. Encryption is - must be - inevitable - so we really should have more conversations about what that means and fewer about how to stop it from happening.

Fin. (for now).