Encryption is good - even if it protects assholes you don’t like
You may not like who is benefiting from it, but being against encryption means you are against a basic human right.
Encryption is a threat to those in power. This is true whether you live in a democracy or in a dictatorship. In the latter, having access to safe communications channels can decide between life and death. While everyone would agree on that, I feel there is a weird, ambivalent relationship with this very topic: We support women rights activists in Afghanistan, root for dissidents in Belarus (a full-blown dictatorship in the middle of Europe) and of course think Edward Snowden is one of the bravest heroes of our time. But while we do all that, we don’t think this whole thing through. Let me explain it with a recent example.
On June 12 2021 the New York Times published an article titled Bitcoin and Encryption: A Race Between Criminals and the F.B.I.. The authors celebrate two recent wins by US agencies: First, they were able to get some bitcoins back, which were ransacked via ransomware attacks. And second, the F.B.I. developed its own messaging app, which was used to infiltrate criminal networks. Even though those are big wins, so the article concludes, criminals still have the upper hand, mainly because they can rely on secure encryption. Encryption is portrayed as a “challenge”, which needs to be overcome, cracked or solved. Bitcoin’s role in this is that of an “attractive tool for criminals” (duh), especially when it comes to ransomware crimes. Luckily, so the authors conclude, tech companies like Apple or Facebook are working closely with authorities, even though iMessage or WhatsApp offer end-to-end encryption.
Don’t get me wrong: Those crimes are real and as mentioned in the New York Times piece, are happening more and more frequently. I also agree that this is the “battlefield of the 21st century”.
But: This kind of reporting is conveying a narrative, that’s exactly the opposite of what we should have learned from Edward Snowden’s leaks around Prism: Allseeing authorities, secret services and governments are not a threat to our last bit of privacy, but our last hope. Otherwise, we end up in a wild west kind of digital world, where you are getting robbed at best and shot at worst as soon as you leave your house.
It ignores why cybercrime is working so well in the first place: most people and institutions on the Internet are easy prey. Most people use the same weak passwords for every service, take no to little security measurements at home or at their workplace. Also, the fact that most bigger hacks and companies or institutions are actually inside jobs, is also being ignored.
It shows one thing: The complete lack of awareness of the dark sides of surveillance. The fact that both Encryption and Bitcoin are actually useful for people you hate, should not be seen as a problem, but it’s the very reason why both exist. Both are key innovations for the internet age. On the other hand, it’s clear that they are controversial for people and institutions who would like to know it all, but can’t.
Like what you read? Subscribe and follow me on Twitter.
Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash.