[Cryptography] What is encryption good for? - was Re: Hillary on encryption: 'maybe the back door isn't the right door'

Benjamin Kreuter brk7bx at virginia.edu
Tue Dec 22 22:45:59 EST 2015


On Tue, 2015-12-22 at 16:16 +0000, Peter Fairbrother wrote:
> So, what is encryption good for?
> 
> Some suggestions:
> 
> 
> internet banking
> ATMs
> internet shopping
> protection against identity theft
> 
> use by enterprises keep customer details confidential
> cloud services
> keep mobile calls private
> modern car locks
> conditional access to computers, databases etc - anything needing a
> password
> 
> 
> Any more?

Ensuring that private (intimate, sexual, etc.) photos and video chats
actually remain private, including from the government (see e.g. GCHQ
collection of Yahoo! users' video chats).

Protecting against misbehavior by ISPs and other services (e.g. privacy
violations, censorship, etc.).

Protecting against mass surveillance programs and other forms of state-
sponsored espionage.

Protecting against abuses of power by police forces e.g. surveillance
of peaceful protesters (this is unfortunately relevant not only in
places like Hong Kong, but also in Europe and the USA).




These are examples of legal and ethical reasons why people would use
end-to-end encryption or whole disk encryption, which is what the
current debate is about.

-- Ben
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