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Journal article
Specifying a principle of cryptographic justice as a response to the problem of going dark
Ethics and information technology, Vol.25(3), 36
2023
Abstract
Over the past decade, the Five Eyes Intelligence community has argued cryptosystems with end-to-end encryption (E2EE) are disrupting the acquisition and analysis of digital evidence. They have labelled this phenomenon the ‘problem of going dark’. Consequently, several jurisdictions have passed ‘responsible encryption’ laws that limit access to E2EE. Based upon a rhetorical analysis (Cunningham in Understanding rhetoric: a guide to critical reading and argumentation, BrownWalker Press, Boca Raton, 2018) of official statements about ‘going dark’, it is argued there is a need for a domain-specific principle of cryptographic justice to reorient the debate away from competing technocratic claims about the necessity, proportionality, and accountability of digital surveillance programs. This article therefore specifies a principle of cryptographic justice by adapting more general norms of information justice to decision-making about encryption law and policy. The resulting principle is that encryption laws and policies should be designed to empower the comparatively powerless to protect themselves from domination (i.e., morally arbitrary forms of surveillance). It is argued this principle can reorient decision-making about encryption law and policy towards consideration of how cryptography impacts systems-level power dynamics within information societies.
Details
- Title
- Specifying a principle of cryptographic justice as a response to the problem of going dark
- Authors/Creators
- Michael Wilson - Murdoch University, School of Law and Criminology
- Publication Details
- Ethics and information technology, Vol.25(3), 36
- Publisher
- Springer Netherlands
- Grant note
- Murdoch University
- Identifiers
- 991005593769207891
- Copyright
- © 2023 The Author(s)
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Law and Criminology
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- Citation topics
- 4 Electrical Engineering, Electronics & Computer Science
- 4.187 Security Systems
- 4.187.1404 Malware Detection
- Web Of Science research areas
- Ethics
- Information Science & Library Science
- Philosophy
- ESI research areas
- Social Sciences, general