ABSTRACT
The ongoing debate over the regulation of encryption, and the developing concern over the regulation of anonymity, present complex issues regarding government regulation of and adjustment to technology in free societies. These parallel issues place in sharp contrast our emerging views of privacy and law enforcement activity, including surveillance, on communications networks. Encryption – the scrambling of information to prevent unauthorized persons from reading it – can provide nearly perfect protection for the privacy of our communications and our stored data. Anonymity also protects our privacy by preventing others from determining what we (virtually) do or say on networks – with the emphasis on the ‘we’ because a watcher might determine what is being done or said, but not who is doing it. Both encryption and anonymity are, therefore, closely tied to our developing notions of privacy, but each poses severe difficulties for law enforcement in its efforts to protect public safety because law enforcement must prove identity and criminal conduct in every criminal case.
