Shut Up and Encrypt

While watching the Alex Winter film about the Panama Papers, this quote stood out to me, given all of the talk about the “dangers” of encryption.

While working with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in the early days of investigating the data leaked from the Mossack Fonseca law firm, the importance of not letting anyone know that the data had leaked, or that it was all being investigated, was paramount, so they lived with this slogan:

“Shut Up and Encrypt”

In other words, telling the wrong person about the leak could put people in danger and jeopardize the investigation. It could all get shut down. Keep it secret, and if you must communicate electronically, use encryption.

However, government officials and law enforcement, the people who should most want to prevent the sort of criminal activity and tax evasion that was brought to light by a solid investigation, would prefer that journalists and investigators not have the solid protection of end-to-end encryption, because criminals might use it too.

I only bring this up because I know there are still those who think only criminals have something to hide. It simply isn’t true.

Follow these topics: Tech