Keeping digital conversations private

Only Congress can defend our right to private conversation

Speech freedom limited 'when every conversation can be construed as evidence against them'

Wednesday, Oct. 21, was Global Encryption Day, an occasion to defend the technology that makes digital conversations as private as those you have with your friends and family. But encryption is in danger of being broken by demands from governments at home and abroad.

Encryption protects our banking transactions, medical privacy, business secrets, and personal communications. End-to-end encryption on services such as Signal goes further: Properly implemented, it allows only the communicating parties to read their messages, keeping even the service provider from opening them.

For many people, that protection can be a lifeline. A woman fleeing a violent stalker needs to communicate with her children and her shelter without exposing their plans. A journalist needs to speak with a whistleblower without delivering that source to the people whose misconduct is being exposed. Dissidents, religious minorities, and political opponents living under authoritarian governments need room to organize, worship, and dissent without inviting arrest.

Privacy makes these freedoms possible. People cannot speak freely when every conversation can be construed as evidence against them. Yet governments keep demanding a special key into encrypted communications. They call it "lawful access," suggesting that officials can obtain that key without compromising everyone else's security.

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