Who Cares About Encryption?

Governments, Civil Liberties Groups, and Businesses

  1. Read "Encryption in the Hands of Terrorists, and Everyone Else" and "Why Not Regulate Encryption? (Blown to Bits pages 161-165).
  2. Read "Cryptography Unsettled" (Blown to Bits pages 191- top of 193).
  3. Do the following debate activity on the issue of the availability of encryption software. You will be representing either the government, a civil liberties group, or the business community.
    • First, as a class, discuss the position each of these groups will take on the issue. What will the government claim is the right thing to do regarding encryption software? What would civil liberties advocates say should be done? The business community? Each group should have a clear position statement that everyone in the class knows.
    • Split into three groups - government, civil liberty groups, and businesses. In each group, write the two most convincing reasons or pieces of evidence that support your position. Then write one reason against the position of each of the other two groups. For example, the government group would write:
      • Government's position: ______________
      • Reasons for supporting our position:
        1. ______________
        2. ______________
      • We are against the civil liberty group's position because ______________
      • We are against the business' position because ______________
  1. Which group's reasons were you most convinced by today (even if you don't actually agree with their position)? Why were they so convincing? What made it hard to argue against their position?
    2. This list of two pro-government pages needs to be balanced with, e.g., EFF crypto statements. AC: Neal Koblitz, from UW, is an authority on cryptography and is quite outspoken (in print) about government abuses.
  2. The debate continues: