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Concept
Human rights and encryption
Summary
Human rights applied to encryption are a concept of freedom of expression, where encryption is a technical resource in the implementation of basic human rights.
With the evolution of the digital age, the application of freedom of speech has become more controversial as new technologies and restrictions arose, along with governmental and commercial interests. From a human rights perspective, there is a growing awareness that encryption is a core component in realizing a free, open, and trustworthy Internet.
Human rights are moral principles or norms, that describe certain standards of human behaviour, that are regularly protected as legal rights in municipal and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable, fundamental rights "to which a person is inherently entitled simply because they are a human being". Those rights are "inherent in all human beings" regardless of their nationality, location, language, religion, ethnic origin, or any other status. They are applicable everywhere, at every time and are universal. They are egalitarian in the sense that they are the same for everyone.
Cryptography is a long-standing subject in the field of mathematics and computer science. It can generally be defined as "the protection of information and computation using mathematical techniques." In the OECD Guidelines, encryption and cryptography are defined as follows: "Encryption" refers to the transformation of data by the use of cryptography to produce unintelligible data (encrypted data) to ensure its confidentiality. "Cryptography" refers to the discipline, that embodies principles, means, and methods for the transformation of data to hide its information content, establish its authenticity, prevent its undetected modification, prevent its repudiation, and prevent its unauthorized use. Encryption and cryptography are often used synonymously, although "cryptography" has a broader technical meaning. For example, a digital signature is "cryptography", but not technically "encryption".
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