Encryption is Key to Data Protection Online, Privacy Experts Say

“Encryption plays a fundamental role in protecting personal data and ensuring young people can navigate the digital world safely and with confidence,” said Patricia Kosseim, Ontario information and privacy commissioner. Strong encryption helps them "engage with technology safely without fear of surveillance, predatory practices, ID theft or data breaches. As we explore privacy and security solutions for the next generation, we must ensure that encryption remains a cornerstone of digital safety.”

Noting that young people have "lived their entire lives in the age of the commercial internet, social media, electronic health records and a growing range of internet-connected devices," Amy Stepanovich, vice president for policy at the FPF, said, “encryption is still the first best protection to ensure that communications, transactions, personal data and digital devices are safe and secure.”

Encryption is commonly framed as a threat to national security and public safety, but Mallory Knodel, executive director of the Social Web Foundation, argued against this concept. “If you put the people who are being protected at the center of your concern, then encryption is the solution,” she said. “Encryption is part of what keeps us all safe.”

Matt Mitchell, CEO of Safety Sync Group, agreed. “Encryption is not secrecy,” he said. “It is privacy, and privacy is tied to who we are as human beings. All human beings, no matter your height, no matter how young you are, deserve privacy, and in today's world, we need encryption … to allow folks to have that same privacy.”

Accordingly, “we have to stay on guard against laws and government actions that may undermine end-to-end encryption,” said Jonathon Lee, head of global policy for WhatsApp and Messaging at Meta. Mandated back doors or client-side scanning are examples of things that directly undermine encryption, he said. Other things, like creating obligations to detect or remove certain types of content, indirectly undermine end-to-end encryption, Lee added.

Knodel said kids are technically proficient and know a lot about keeping themselves safe online. Giving them more control over their online conversations or the ability to block, report and filter what they see only helps them become safer, she said. “We'd like to encourage platforms to think so much about, you know, children's safety online, that they actually give more agency to kids, not less,” Knodel said. There’s no grand solution to children’s safety and privacy online, but tech -- and therefore encryption -- are a part of the answer, she added.