Privacy Vs. Security

In 2013, the world first learned that the U.S. was sucking up phone records of hundreds of millions of people, along with e-mails and texts. These revelations, leaked by former government contractor Edward Snowden, showed how the widespread adoption of technology laid the groundwork for data collection on a previously unimaginable scale. Now the U.K. and U.S. have turned their sights on the encryption meant to protect data. This has revived debates over the sometimes conflicting goals of law enforcement and privacy in an age of rising terrorism.

Many technology companies began to add encryption to their products and services after the revelations from Snowden elevated privacy concerns. After recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, the U.K. government renewed calls for companies such as Facebook Inc. and its subsidiary WhatsApp Inc. to allow investigators access to encrypted services upon request. Encryption was also at issue after the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation seized an iPhone used by a shooter involved in a terrorist attack in December 2015. A federal judge ordered Apple to create new software to get past the phone’s password encryption. Apple refused, saying this could threaten the data security of all its customers. The FBI dropped the case after it bought a hacking tool from an outside entity to unlock the phone. In May 2016, Brazil temporarily blocked the WhatsApp messaging service for the second time in five months for failing to turn over data in a criminal investigation. Other data collection issues continue to cause divisions. Last year, the U.K. passed legislation that gave authorities sweeping powers to hack, intercept and retain the communications of all British citizens; the European Union’s top court ruled in December that this “indiscriminate” data collection was illegal. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on whether prosecutors need a warrant to obtain mobile-phone tower records that can show someone’s location.