Encryption and Surveillance
Is the increasing use of encryption an impediment in the fight against crime or an essential tool in the defense of personal privacy, intellectual property, and computer security?
Encryption and Surveillance Read MoreKey Escrow (also known as a “fair” cryptosystem) is an arrangement in which the keys needed to decrypt encrypted data are held in escrow so that, under certain circumstances, an authorized third party may gain access to those keys. These third parties may include businesses, who may want access to employees’ secure business-related communications, or governments, who may wish to be able to view the contents of encrypted communications (also known as exceptional access).
The technical problem is a largely structural one. Access to protected information must be provided only to the intended recipient and at least one third party. The third party should be permitted access only under carefully controlled conditions, as for instance, a court order. Thus far, no system design has been shown to meet this requirement fully on a technical basis alone.
—Wikipedia, “Key escrow”
For a series of articles on Key Escrow see: Schneier on Security, “Entries Tagged “key escrow””
In short the essence of the issue is that governmental claims of the need for key escrow are far outweighed by the need for strong encryption. Any effort to weaken encryption to make it easier for governments to access the “bad guys” encrypted data equally weakens encryption for the rest of the world with the net result of creating more problems than it solves.
Is the increasing use of encryption an impediment in the fight against crime or an essential tool in the defense of personal privacy, intellectual property, and computer security?
Encryption and Surveillance Read More