Encryption Enables Activism
In Deep Web, Andy Greenberg, a technology journalist, discussed how encryption and the deep web enabled journalists to freely communicate with individuals and groups that they would otherwise be unable to communicate with. We have also seen anonymity-related activism recently when someone, supposedly the hacktivist group Anonymous, hacked the Texas anti-abortion site, resulting in it being taken down [1]. Another recent example is when a Chinese government website was hacked, and the flag of Taiwan and Taiwan’s national anthem were uploaded to the site [2]. These activism-related hacks are only possible due to strong encryption and the deep web. It is improbable that anybody would perform either of those actions without the protection of privacy and anonymity.
Full/Sustained Privacy is Practically Impossible
If you are responsible for protecting and securing a site, and you prevent 99.99% of exploits and possible points of entry, then you have failed. Unfortunately, all a hacker has to do is identify the 0.01% vulnerability and all of your hard work is rendered useless. This also applies to privacy online. Initially, establishing anonymity online is rather difficult [3]. Even if you take the time to develop and execute bullet-proof procedures to establish and maintain your online anonymity/privacy, it only takes one slip-up to undo it all. You can perform the procedures to perfection for ten years, then make one slip-up, maybe because you’re tired, drunk, stressed, or simply not thinking straight, and you’re done. That’s it. There’s no undoing it. Ulbricht, also known as Dread Pirate Roberts, took a lot of steps to remain anonymous; unfortunately, he had a few slip-ups early on which eventually lead to his demise.
Catching Internet Criminals is Like Whack-A-Mole
It is far easier to clone a website than it is for the government to take it down. The Pirates Bay, for example, a file-sharing and indexing site, is a constant target due to its illicit nature. There have been raids in the past to shut The Pirates Bay down, but it has always sprung back up quite quickly. Taking down a site is quite difficult; cloning a site is not. This can also be seen in Deep Web when the Silk Road 2.0 and other sites were released to fill the gap left when the government shut down the original Silk Road site [4].
Government Regulation has Collateral Damage
Government regulation is often for the greater good and has no mal-intent. Regulations are generally designed to protect people and businesses. Unfortunately, some unintended consequences can get caught in the crossfire. Encryption and cryptocurrency were and are core components of the Silk Road and a multitude of other illegal sites. There have been numerous regulatory attempts to limit cryptocurrency and encryption, citing some of these illegal sites as case studies. Another crime used as an example to reduce encryption abilities is child pornography [5]. Although this is a horrific crime, it should not be used as an excuse or reason to remove encryption. Another example is the recent additions to the U.S. infrastructure bill, which have subsections pertaining to cryptocurrency [6]. While the infrastructure bill's intent is to provide a safer user experience for cryptocurrency users, the new rules that require users to register as brokers are likely going to push cryptocurrency and digital currency innovation out of the U.S. A possible fault for this outcome, and previous unintended consequences, may be the fact that most legislators are technologically illiterate. Evidence of this can be seen in Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai's congressional testimonies, where it is clear that legislators have no idea what they are talking about. One notable exchange between the Chair of the “High Tech Republican Task Force” and Mark Zuckerberg is as follows, “How do you sustain a business model in which users don’t pay for your service?” with Zuckerberg responding, “Senator, we run ads.”
References
[1] Paul Flahive, Texas GOP Website Hacked By Activists Protesting Abortion Law, (Texas Public Radio, Sep 11, 2021), https://www.tpr.org/technology-entrepreneurship/2021-09-11/texas-gop-website-hacked-by-activists-protesting-abortion-law (Oct 5, 2021)
[2] Keoni Everington, Anonymous posts Taiwan flag, national anthem on China government site, (Taiwan News, Sep 30, 2021), https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4301718 (Oct 5, 2021)
[3] Montique Buchanan, Is online privacy possible?, (MIT News, Feb 6, 2014), https://news.mit.edu/2014/is-online-privacy-possible (Oct 6, 2021)
[4] Andy Greenberg, 'Silk Road 2.0' Launches, Promising A Resurrected Black Market For The Dark Web, (Forbes, Nov 6, 2013), https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/11/06/silk-road-2-0-launches-promising-a-resurrected-black-market-for-the-dark-web/?sh=47325a9c5714 (Oct 7, 2021)
[5] Hannah Quay-de la Vallee & Mana Azarmi, The New EARN IT Act Still Threatens Encryption and Child Exploitation Prosecutions (CDT, Aug 25 2020), https://cdt.org/insights/the-new-earn-it-act-still-threatens-encryption-and-child-exploitation-prosecutions/ (Oct 4, 2021)
[6] Makena Kelly, Controversial crypto rules remain in infrastructure bill after House vote (The Verge, Aug 25 2021), https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/25/22641375/cryptocurrency-infrastructure-irs-tax-developers-miners-bitcoin (Oct 4, 2021)
[7] LIVE: Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies on Data Collection (C-SPAN, Dec 11, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfbTbPEEJxI (Oct 4, 2021)
[8] Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testimony on data privacy before Senate committee (ABC News, Apr 10, 2018), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQN4On0K7-w (Oct 4, 2021)