Keeping Private Messages Private: End-to-End Encryption on Social Media
Steven Song Following recent data scandals, online users have become concerned that their private information on the Internet is susceptible to misappropriation. These concerns motivated data privacy regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act to ensure better protection against unauthorized access to personal data. Relatedly, Facebook has announced a plan to implement end- to-end encryption (E2EE) for all of its social media messaging systems. E2EE strictly limits access to private messages to the communicating parties. Even the company managing the messaging system cannot access these encrypted conversations. The implementation of E2EE, however, comes...
Clear Signatures, Obscure Signs
Adam White Scoville There are two kinds of digital signatures: signatures good enough for a six dollar trade among friends, and signatures good enough for a six figure trade between strangers. This Article considers both, from the digital equivalent of an initialed placemat to secure verification techniques more like notarizations. Nationally and internationally, diverse groups and bodies have been propelling the development of digital signature and certificate authority regulation and legislation. This Article examines the need for such legislation, questioning the assumption that current law presents, at best, uncertainties or, at worst, outright barriers to the use of electronic records...
Not Quite Cryptus Horribilis: 1997’s Developments in the Encryption Debate Have Pushed Sides Further Apart
Adam White Scoville In late 1997, at least six bills or amendments on the use of encryption were either introduced or circulated in draft form. Seven congressional committees considered encryption legislation. A clear trend is emerging from these developments. Law enforcement and national security interests favoring restrictions on encryption are quickly growing further apart from civil liberties groups and computer and telecommunications industry associations favoring liberalization of encryption rules. The rifts have grown wide enough to induce at least one interested group to predict that no satisfactory compromise could imminently be possible and to cease advocating the passage of encryption...