It is no doubt that companies such as Apple, Twitter, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook provide important communication services to customers across the world. In light of the recent terrorist attacks, there have been suggestions on the need for the Federal Government to have backdoor access to encrypted devices and personal communication on such platforms. Such a request poses a big ethical dilemma to the companies as privacy of customer’s data is a top priority for them. There is the question of how granting such access can influence the businesses of these organizations. It is not ethical for government to have backdoor access to encrypted devices or unwarranted access to the users' private communications because it not only infringes on privacy but is also likely to worsen the relationship between civilians and law enforcement agencies.
Granting the intelligence agencies in the United States access to encrypted devices through backdoors is most likely to expose the data of the users. Jacobsen (2017), argues that for such a proposal to be implemented, there is need for the preservation of the end-to-end encryption, while also giving then government access through the backdoor access. In such cases, cryptographic backdoors can be handled through the provision of the necessary keys with the federal law enforcement agencies as third parties. Such exceptional access still gives room for challenges and problems regarding the management of the unprecedented access to the company’s database since it has substantial risks, particularly to the private information of the users, which can be easily used and manipulated by hackers. Notably, the security of data remains to be the greatest threat posed by special access request by the various law enforcement agencies. According to Watney (2020), any access to the users' mobile devices, social media access, internet web browser history can offer so much information that would jeopardize the privacy of an individual. It is a significant problem that would be established by the government's backdoor access to the data stored by these organizations. Exposure and access to such crucial information of the users can create room for additional surveillance of the users' activities, which is such a significant threat to individual privacy in the country. Schulz (2016) reiterates that allowing the government to carry surveillance is a perfect opportunity for intellectual privacy, which establishes a behavior after close monitoring by the law agencies. The most evident challenge that comes with the backdoor access remains to be the reduction of public obscurity. People in public places always engage in controversial ideas that are aimed at expanding their political and moral imaginations (Schuster et al., 2017). Users can constantly engage in such ideas freely knowing that their actions are not being watched. Free social interactions among the people in society are crucial in the maintenance and development of mature and responsible consciousness. However, this will no longer be the case if the proposed laws are adopted and people will have limited freedom of interaction.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Notably, there have been recent security events of cyber-attacks and hacks on multiple internet-based avenues such as Facebook and Twitter. Such attacks can be enhanced through special access requests by federal law enforcement agencies. For instance, Facebook was recently the victim when its system was infiltrated by hackers who successfully gained access to most of the private profiles of Facebook users. The hacking instance and other cyber-related security cases on Facebook have sparked heated debates and calls for heightened security to internet-based information (Schulz, 2016). Nonetheless, the federal enforcement agencies request for backdoor access is only likely to create new platforms for data breaches of other third parties. Multiple crucial software vulnerabilities have often occurred, severely breaching the privacy of personal data and other vital information. Based on the increase of attacks on the internet and web-based platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the frequent requests made by federal law enforcement agencies to access exceptional data of the users is wrong. It will facilitate the attacks on the users of these platforms, and the users may in the process lose their private and personal information to the attackers (Schulz, 2016). More specifically, the request by the law enforcement agencies to access to cryptographic protocols through the backdoors as a way to improve the data security will most likely create avenues for surveillance to nations hence increasing security threat levels. It is a step back on the data security that has displayed substantial growth over the years, despite the hackers increasing their strategies on data attacks.
It is as well important to note that the introduction of the backdoor access by the federal law agencies in the United States is likely to weaken attitudes such as free social interactions of the people with the agencies. The citizens of the United States are always encouraged to freely engage and cooperate with federal law agencies to improve their duties in protecting the country and its people (Schuster et al., 2017). However, government surveillance through the backdoor access as requested by the federal law agencies is most likely to weaken the willingness of the citizens to cooperate and engage in public participation for improvement of the protection of the country and its people. ). The majority of the United States' citizens peruse, read and share issues with others through the internet platforms. However, this cannot be realized with the adoption of backdoor access since the safeguards provided by encryption are removed (Jacobsen, 2017). Discouragement of the people to engage in free public participation through such requests from federal law agencies is a big blow to the country's democratic ideals in the modern free world.
Establishment of backdoors to create room for federal government access, particularly to the cryptographic protocols, will only create ripple effects which will be transmitted to companies running business on the platforms targeted (Schuster et al., 2017). For instance, consumers of these companies outside the United States may be unwilling to purchase technological products from the market in the United States since they are affiliated with government surveillance.
Most of the supporters of the federal law agencies to get access to the cryptographic protocols to argue that it is a crucial step towards fighting terrorism. However, there is little evidence regarding use of backdoor access to help in the fight against terrorism. Koops and Kosta (2018), explain that end-to-end encryption remains to be one of the most crucial tools that the terrorists use in the prevention of the government access to their communications and plans. Several attempts have been made to use encryptions as the scapegoat for even attacks that did not involve end-to-end data encryptions such as the San Bernardino plot. Therefore, there is no evidence that terrorist attacks that have been targeted against the United States could have been prevented had there been weakened encryption in the communication platforms. Besides, there is no connection between the weakened data encryptions in communication avenues and the terrorist attacks. Koops and Kosta (2018) argue that the efforts made by digital intelligence in the United States have failed in the creation of a safer United States.
The high rate of innovation and technology advancement has been crucial in the development of novel avenues that that facilitate human interactions and make it easy to conduct business. Some of these avenues include Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and LinkedIn. These companies harbor a lot of personal information belonging to the individual users of these platforms and it is crucial that these organizations protect this information as much as possible to prevent unauthorized acess. The U.S law enforcement agencies have constantly advocated for such communications service and data providers to avail access to the government through backdoor access a move that I don’t agree with since it would lead to violation of individual privacy, it would also increase vulnerability of these platforms to attacks from hackers and it would disrupt businesses in a big way.
References
Jacobsen, K. M. (2017). Game of Phones, Data Isn't Coming: Modern Mobile Operating System Encryption and Its Chilling Effect on Law Enforcement. Geo. Wash. L. Rev., 85, 566.
Koops, B. J., & Kosta, E. (2018). Looking for some light through the lens of "cryptowar" history: Policy options for law enforcement authorities against "going dark". Computer Law & Security Review, 34(4), 890-900.
Schulz, W. (2016). Human rights and encryption. UNESCO Publishing.
Schuster, S., Van Den Berg, M., Larrucea, X., Slewe, T., & Ide-Kostic, P. (2017). Mass surveillance and technology policy options: improving the security of private communications. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 50, 76-82.
Siopi, M., Vlahavas, G., Karasavvas, K., & Vakali, A. (2020, October). DeCStor: A Framework for Privately and Securely Sharing Files Using a Public Blockchain. In International Conference on Discovery Science (pp. 280-293). Springer, Cham.
Watney, M. (2020, July). Law Enforcement Access to End-to-End Encrypted Social Media Communications. In 7th European Conference on Social Media ECSM 2020 (p. 322).
