13-01-2021
The use of the internet is progressively more globalized and present in all moments of daily life. With the pandemic, this digitization has increased more rapidly. Security is, therefore, a growing concern, and it is currently being debated whether EU Member States should have the right to access information, even if encrypted.
José Legatheaux Martins Martins, professor and researcher at the Department of Informatics and NOVA LINCS at the NOVA School of Science and Technology and president of the Portuguese Chapter of the Internet Society, says that “cryptography is omnipresent and provides the basis for privacy, security and reliability” and “unfortunately, in addition the cryptography makes it difficult to combat illegal and antisocial activities practiced via the Internet”.
However, he adds that if States develop mechanisms to access encrypted information to combat crime "the existence of such mechanisms cannot be implemented without weakening the security of equipment".
Read the full opinion here.
