There’s a debate raging over the news that mobile devices will soon be encrypted using keys that are fully under the owner’s control. The government, of course, hates this idea. Law enforcement feels like they should be able to decrypt anything if they want to. This is not a new debate — there was a huge debate over key escrow in the 90’s.
Here are a few pointers to pieces that explain why it’s important that users should be able to use encryption in the way that they see fit. Tim Bray concisely answers the question Is Encrypting Phones OK? Bruce Schneier explains that any back door put in place for law enforcement will inevitably be exploited by others (and links to a number of other good pieces on this topic). Cryptographer Matthew Green speculates on how Apple’s new security measures work.
We should be allowed to encrypt our data
There’s a debate raging over the news that mobile devices will soon be encrypted using keys that are fully under the owner’s control. The government, of course, hates this idea. Law enforcement feels like they should be able to decrypt anything if they want to. This is not a new debate — there was a huge debate over key escrow in the 90’s.
Here are a few pointers to pieces that explain why it’s important that users should be able to use encryption in the way that they see fit. Tim Bray concisely answers the question Is Encrypting Phones OK? Bruce Schneier explains that any back door put in place for law enforcement will inevitably be exploited by others (and links to a number of other good pieces on this topic). Cryptographer Matthew Green speculates on how Apple’s new security measures work.
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