[DS Notes] Greater Calls For Encryption Following NSA Spill

As the fallout of the Edward Snowden case continues, American journalism professor Jeff Jarvis posted an opinion piece for Guardian arguing for increased encryption for private communications. He argues that Internet companies owe it to consumers to provide a secure communications line that will maintain their right to privacy and must stand by that right in pushing for greater transparency when governments make a request to turn over user data. On a related note, increased encryption has impeded a handful of court-approved US government surveillance, reports Wired. While the numbers are tiny compared to the entire effort (15 out of nearly 3400), 2012’s Wiretap Report marks the first time in the report’s history that the US federal government acknowledges wiretapping failure due to encryption. This follows Cnet’s report in April about iMessage causing problems for the DEA.