My group wrote a letter to Senator John Kasich advocating for strong encryption and warning about creating a precedent of lowering security standards at the government’s request. Our letter can be found at https://caseyhanleyethics.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/letter-to-government-representative-regarding-encryption/.
In my opinion, encryption needs to be a fundamental right. I think that privacy is a right that all citizens should have. In today’s age, so many people keep extremely confidential and personal information on mobile devices and most have no idea how vulnerable their information is. I believe that citizens’ personal information belongs to them and them alone. In an ideal world, all information would be encrypted so that no entities could use the information in malicious ways. At the same time, if these individuals committed crimes then the government would be able to see their data to help solve the crimes. Unfortunately, the ideal world is not achievable with today’s technology. As a result, my current hope is for encryption for all, regardless of the circumstances. It is much more dangerous to lower security standards and potentially strip privacy from everyone in the US than it is to lose one form of evidence in a handful of criminal cases.
Encryption is a very important issue to me that unfortunately does not receive much attention due to the general public’s lack of knowledge about it and its implications. I wish that it was a political issue that received attention and discussion. Because it is not, I unfortunately do not make my political decisions based upon politician’s stance on encryption. I do not normally spend enough time researching politicians to vote based upon encryption. However, because it is a pressing issue I really hope that in the near future it will be brought into the spotlight at which point it will certainly influence my voting decisions.
In the struggle between national security and personal privacy, I am extremely scared that privacy will be reduced to the point of non-existence under the pretense of national security. Already the Snowden leaks have revealed that our government lies to us and does not value security in the same ways that we (or at least I) do. In so many popular dystopian novels, authors warn of a terrible future in which the ever prevalent factor is always no personal privacy under the guise of national security. Despite all of these warnings, our world seems to be rapidly approaching this future. I strongly believe that this is the wrong road to take. However, I do not know how I can influence this future. Sadly, in our political system I feel as though individual voices carry very little weight and I have trouble relating to the masses. I want to fight for privacy and I do voice my opinions with my family and friends (even when it leads to arguments), but I do not know how I can influence the nation and the direction we seem to be heading.
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