State access to encrypted communications: A symposium

Abstract

In 2015, 15 authors in the Journal of Cybersecurity concluded that ‘the damage that could be caused by law enforcement exceptional access requirements would be even greater today than it would have been 20 years ago’. Their article acknowledges the debate’s genesis in the 1990s controversy over the Clipper Chip—a controversy known as the ‘Crypto-Wars’. The Clipper Chip was devised by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to provide encryption but with a built-in backdoor to allow the NSA access data encrypted by it. Ultimately, the chip’s development was abandoned. Today, the expansion of digital communications makes the question even more pressing. In her consideration of these changes Laura K. Donohue highlights that: