Stockycat.com Entries

Friday, January 7, 2011

Is Encryption of Cell Phones the Answer?

PC World has posted an article about security for cell phones in light of recent court decisions.

The most interesting aspect, for me, was the use of encryption. This will, I predict, be one of the most important emerging law and technology issues over the next five years.

The article mentions that IT personnel can encrypt text message data "so that it isn't immediately available to anybody without the passkey, thus forcing authorities to seek a warrant should they want to view it." However, Federal law enforcement and national security officials want to require all services that enable encrypted communications to be able to comply if served with a wiretap order. I wrote about that issue here and here.

In my view, passwords and encryption, especially when emails or documents are stored in the cloud, is key because it demonstrates that a person has a subjective expectation of privacy in the contents. Others – notably Professor Kerr – disagree.

No comments:

Post a Comment