by Angela Guess
Mark Anderson reports in IEEE Spectrum, “In the rock-paper-scissors game of technology, the Internet of Things beats cryptography. This is the conclusion of a new Harvard Law School report focusing on the FBI’s claims that increasing levels of cryptography in consumer devices means that law enforcement loses. The report retorts that even if cryptography closes some doors, new Internet-connected devices and services will open others. The stakes are certainly high, said FBI director James Comey in congressional testimony last summer. Bad guys benefit from increased end-to-end cryptography on both devices and networks, as he and others have argued in the media. And that, they say, means losing access to key surveillance opportunities for fighting crime and terrorism. ‘We in law enforcement often refer to this problem as ‘going dark,’’ Comey said.”
Anderson continues, “But the new report, from Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, says Comey is missing the larger picture. While increasingly pervasive cryptography in consumer devices may close some surveillance channels, plenty of other channels are opening up that allow law enforcement to continue to keep an eye on suspected criminals. Most of these new inroads, the report says, come courtesy of two other tech innovations that are dramatically changing the way we use consumer electronics: the cloud and the Internet of Things (IoT). ‘We think there are some things that are missing from the debate that really have not been discussed,’ says David O’Brien, senior researcher at the Berkman Center and head of the Center’s joint effort with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation—the so-called ‘Berklett’ Cybersecurity Project.”
O’Brien added, “Perhaps the future is not one where we have gone dark completely but instead one where there are actually spots of darkness and spots of light at the same time… There’s also this emerging Internet of Things. And if it’s as wildly successful as people forecast it to be, that could really change a lot of methods of conducting surveillance.”
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