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A Shield in Uncertain Times: The Role of Encryption

Encryption keeps us safe in uncertain times.

A Shield in Uncertain Times: The Role of Encryption
Photo by Kyle Glenn / Unsplash

Global Encryption Coalition Steering Committee

Global Encryption Day is an annual day of action started by the Global Encryption Coalition, of which IX's Mallory Knodel is a founding member. It brings together civil society organizations, businesses, technologists, and millions of Internet users across the world to promote, protect and defend strong encryption. There are many opportunities to participate in events organized in your part of the world or online. You can also attend the Encryption Summit online via zoom:

The Encryption Summit 2025

Journalists use strong encryption to keep themselves and their sources safe. Marginalized communities rely on encryption to protect themselves online and offline. Companies use encryption to protect their business secrets. We all rely on encryption to protect us when online banking, shopping online, or using medicine. Democracy needs encryption.

Despite encryption’s importance, some governments and others continue to threaten strong encryption. For example, in the European Union, some member state governments are pushing for new regulations, known as Chat Control, to demand access to end-to-end encrypted services. There is no way to provide backdoor access to encrypted data and communications without compromising the privacy and security of everyone who uses them.

On 21 October, the Global Encryption Coalition Steering Committee is proud to host the third edition of the Encryption Summit. This year’s summit, A Shield in Uncertain Times: The Role of Encryption, highlights the ways encryption protects our security and privacy during dangerous times. Sessions also will discuss the dangers that attempts to undermine encryption pose and how we can keep encryption safe.

Mallory will host the panel Spies, Cops, and Cyber-Cops Defending Encryption with an impressive group of speakers bringing diverse experience from law enforcement, academia, cybersecurity, and policy.

  • Greg Nojeim – Senior Counsel and Director of the Security and Surveillance Program at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), long recognised as one of the foremost experts on surveillance law and encryption policy in Washington.
  • Professor Alan Woodward – Professor at the University of Surrey, a leading academic voice on computer security whose research and commentary often bridge the gap between technical communities and policymakers.
  • James A. Baker – Former General Counsel of the FBI, and long-time encryption skeptic, who brings first-hand insight from the US intelligence and law enforcement community on how encryption debates have played out at the highest levels.
  • Michelle Bordachar – Public policy analyst at Derechos Digitales in Chile, brings a Latin American policy and implementation perspective on encryption and public safety.

Policy makers often frame issues surrounding encryption as a trade-off between abstract notions of privacy and more concrete needs to solve crime and protect national security. This panel seeks to reframe the debate by bringing together former law enforcement and intelligence officials to discuss why strong encryption is necessary for security and for preventing and fighting crime. Speakers will share their perspectives on how encryption has supported their work, and how anti-encryption policy proposals could compromise crime fighting and security in the future.

Register to attend

What is Encryption to me? Help us put the game to the test.

Elsewhere on World Encryption Day, our Editor-in-Chief Audrey Hingle is supporting Chayn’s event “What is Encryption to me?”, helping to test a new game designed to spark honest, nuanced conversations about privacy, safety, and autonomy. This event builds on ideas from the briefing on encryption and online gender-based violence co-authored by IX's Mallory Knodel and Chayn's Hera Hussain.

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IX on the Tech Policy Press Podcast

In the latest episode of the Tech Policy Press podcast, IX’s Mallory Knodel and contributor Burcu Kilic discuss their article “Big Tech Redefined the Open Internet to Serve Its Own Interests.” They trace how decades of policy decisions and unchecked corporate consolidation have hollowed out the original idea of an “open internet,” shifting it from a public good into something shaped to serve the interests of a handful of powerful tech companies. 

Listen wherever you get your podcasts

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  • As Tanzania approaches its general election, concerns grow over social media restrictions, tighter online policing, and digital censorship. X (formerly Twitter) has already been blocked, while new laws and policing measures threaten to limit debate, fact-checking, and accountability. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmkRExmBGq0 

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