State access to encrypted communications: privacy, safety, security and no easy answers?
The use of encryption to secure communications has long raised the challenges of affording privacy and security but also obstructing investigation and law enforcement. Last October, New Zealand joined with six others - its four “Five Eyes” partners, India and Japan - to call for official access to such communications, pointing to the serious crimes that can be and are enabled by inaccessible communication. At the same time, the risks of insecure communications can be seen in frequent and often large-scale data breaches, other cyber incidents and public and private human rights abuses facilitated by access to individuals’ data.
This expert seminar, chaired by the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner John Edwards and hosted in conjunction with the New Zealand Centre for Public Law, will canvass these difficult issues. Confirmed speakers are:
- Sophie Vickers, manager of the National Cyber Policy Office, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet;
- Norman Barbosa, Assistant General Counsel for Law Enforcement and National Security, Microsoft Corporation;
- Dr Marcin Betkier, lecturer at the School of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, member of the Committee of Privacy Foundation, and specialist in technology law;
- Ben Keith, barrister of Thorndon Chambers Wellington, who specialises in human rights and national security law; and
- Dr Cian Murphy, reader at the University of Bristol and pupil at Doughty Street Chambers, London, specialist in counter-terrorism law.
The October 2020 statement can be found at www.beehive.govt.nz; the Privacy Foundation response, to which Dr Betkier contributed, at www.privacyfoundation.nz; and a 2020 Common Law World Review symposium on state access to encrypted communications edited by Dr Murphy, including an article by Mr Keith, at journals.sagepub.com.