End-to-end encryption’s central role in modern self-defense

A number of US Supreme Court decisions last month, including the reversal of a constitutional right to abortion and the overturn of a century-old limit on certain firearms permits, have activists and average Americans anticipating the ramifications for rights and privacy. Access to end-to-end encrypted services in the US is more important than ever as people scramble to protect their digital privacy and researchers plumb the relationship between abortion speech and tech regulations

Studies commissioned by tech giants like Meta show that access to encrypted communications is a human right in the digital age. The company that offers the platform can't see what you're saying because end-to-end encryption makes your messages, phone calls, and video chats unintelligible everywhere. People who used to think they had nothing to hide are now aware that the era is over.

“There are plenty of people in the US for whom it has always been true that the state wasn’t really helping them and was mostly harming them,” says Riana Pfefferkorn, a research scholar at the Stanford Internet Observatory. “But for those who are now losing faith in traditional institutions of government, it provides room for them to say, ‘OK, what technologies exist for taking back some control?’” Advertisement

Over the past 50 years, law enforcement officials around the world have become more and more concerned about the dangers of encryption. The US Department of Justice and other agencies around the world are trying to make it difficult for companies to offer the protection. While it is important to prevent violence and prosecute activity like the distribution of child sexual abuse materials, researchers consistently note that criminals will deploy and use encryption to protect their data even if the tools are legal or not.

A decade ago, Moxie Marlinkspike wrote about the question of criminality and access to secure communications. Police already abuse the immense power they have, but if everyone's every action were being monitored, and everyone technically violates some obscure law at some point, then punishment becomes purelyselective. The people in power have what they need to punish anyone they want.