The Future of Speech Online 2020

In the U.S. and around the world, policymakers are pushing for legislation that threatens the availability of encryption technology, arguing that end-to-end encryption impedes the efforts of law enforcement to halt the spread of illegal content. But these proposals would also limit internet users’ ability to have access private, secure modes of digital communication. They have serious implications for free expression rights, as secure technologies allow a diverse array of online expression and organizing to flourish.

So who do encryption technologies protect, why are these technologies under threat, and what does an internet with human rights and secure communication at its core look like? At the fourth annual Future of Speech Online event, we will explore key technical concepts in the encryption policy debates, the encrypted communications tools that underpin social movements and the work of journalists, and possible approaches to moderating content in end-to-end encrypted systems. We will also discuss the implications of restrictive national anti-encryption laws for the open, global internet, and the myriad protections that secure communications technologies provide. This year, the event will be entirely virtual in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.