Crypto Wars

“Crypto Wars” is the name of the US government’s attempts to limit the public’s and foreign nations’ access to cryptography strong enough to resist decryption by national intelligence agencies. Restricting access means weakening encryption to allow the government to intervene in any encrypted information. The people won the crypto wars in 2005 and were allowed to encrypt as desired.

In 2013, Snowden leaked the program to weaken encryption algorithms, thus reinstating the wars for privacy and openness. Until now, the only companies that need to provide help decrypting information are service provider companies (Cellular and now internet providers.) All other companies, such as Google, which sells software, or Apple, which sells products, are allowed to encrypt their devices. The iPhone, most notably, was recently encrypted to protect users’ privacy without even apple being able to open it. This has resulted in the US government restarting discussions for access to information via backdoors, shared keys, and no encryption.

Encryption is a right. From its basic form to its most advanced, people should be able to communicate freely. Freedom of expression guarantees that humans can speak to each other however they want. I should be able to tell you: “h1 h0w 4r3 y0u” or “2SfDsF5g7Ds23cs” without someone else knowing what I am telling you. And that is what Apple has stated with their iPhone encryption software. By completely closing their phones, no one can open them without knowing the passcode. And government officials say this enables criminals to hide and destroy information that should be available to them.

Au contraire to what the US government says, this is merely protecting everyday users. By making phones encrypted, people can have their privacy back. And, most likely, 99% of the population won’t have anything relevant on their phones. But what about criminals, terrorists, and threats? High-profile criminals such as terrorists do not, have not, and will not rely on iPhone encryption to communicate with each other in more secure and professional ways. These guys avoid the law, and most certainly, they wouldn’t care what governments think about encryption. Encrypting their communications to the max level is the first step.

What will happen if the government inserts a backdoor in encryption algorithms, someone figures it out, and an airline’s system is compromised? What will happen the day banks in America send billions abroad because of their security flaws? And what will happen the day hackers can read all the communications of every American citizen? Is the US government even thinking about this? Is allowing the government to check communications worth compromising the lives of millions of Americans and people worldwide? I think not.

We need crypto to protect us from the bad guys. The ones that will be affected will be the consumers, the families, and the people that need the most. In comparison, criminals will use other types of cryptography regardless of what the law says. By opening encryption, we are opening people’s houses, cars, businesses, and accounts to anyone - whether the NSA or a criminal. The US government is trying to kill their people and their industries. When companies like silicon valley tech giants start building backdoors, consumer markets will shift to other countries’ products with no restrictions.

Encrypting a message sends information in a way other people can’t read. So, we’ll be now forbidden to speak languages NSA officers don’t know about? Where does this end? And, by the way, cryptography is basic math. The US government is trying to ban math. That is how ridiculous the wars are.

A final thought. Weren’t computers developed by Turing, trying to solve an encryption code for the allies? Yes, I thought so.