Please note: This talk will be given online.
Riana
Pfefferkorn, Associate
Director
Surveillance
and
Cybersecurity, Stanford
Center
for
Internet
and
Society
Encryption has been a topic of heated debate in the United States and worldwide during the last six years. The COVID-19 epidemic added a new twist to the debate: with millions of people now working, playing, and studying remotely from home, strong encryption is more important than ever to protect the privacy and security of our data and communications. And yet, the U.S. government is currently closer than it’s come in years to effectively banning strong encryption.
Two bills have been introduced this year in the U.S. Congress that threaten encryption. One bill would strip a key legal immunity from tech companies to make them more broadly liable for child sex abuse content on their platforms. Called the EARN IT Act, the bill is widely believed to be a stealth attack on encryption, for which it contains only weak protections. Those protections, however, would be rendered moot by the second bill, the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act. That bill would directly mandate that U.S. online service providers must build a backdoor into their encryption for law enforcement purposes. This talk will review the two bills, provide some legal background for them, and explain why they're an incredibly stupid idea.
To join this CrySP Speaker Series on Privacy talk on Zoom, please go to https://zoom.us/j/99897003045.
Bio
Riana
Pfefferkorn
is
the
Associate
Director
of
Surveillance
and
Cybersecurity
at
the
Stanford
Center
for
Internet
and
Society.
Her
work
focuses
on
investigating
and
analyzing
the
U.S.
government’s
policy
and
practices
for
forcing
decryption
and/or
influencing
crypto-related
design
of
online
platforms
and
services,
devices,
and
products,
both
via
technical
means
and
through
the
courts
and
legislatures.
Riana
also
researches
the
benefits
and
detriments
of
strong
encryption
on
free
expression,
political
engagement,
economic
development,
and
other
public
interests.
Prior to joining Stanford, Riana was an associate in the Internet Strategy & Litigation group at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she worked on litigation and counseling matters involving online privacy, Internet intermediary liability, consumer protection, copyright, trademark, and trade secrets and was actively involved in the firm’s pro bono program. Before that, Riana clerked for the Honorable Bruce J. McGiverin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. She also interned during law school for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Riana earned her law degree from the University of Washington School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Whitman College.