Yes, encryption has become a nightmare

Since the 1990s, encryption has become an essential component of Europe’s open societies and markets. The encryption market has burgeoned in Europe, and the technology has flourished, protecting everything from financial transactions to in-vehicle information, from confidential health data to private communications. But a string of terror attacks in Europe sparked a contentious European Union (EU) debate on encryption. As fears of terrorism intensified, EU member states called for stronger collective measures to prevent and counter it. Europol and national law enforcement authorities pointed to encryption as a key threat to the detection, investigation, and prosecution of such criminal activity in Europe. With this, member states demanded a European policy solution, igniting a contested policy debate around encryption in the European Union.

See the problem?

Encryption makes Fintech work. So we are stuck dealing with a critical issue in the economy. If history is any guide, the politicians will allow the wealthy to have the tech and deny it to the middle, and that is a disaster. The Carnegie Institute is the first trade press that covers the issue well. Fintech needs to make a deal with the NSA, we need to set limits on transactions first, if need be.

We need a deal that gets us some form of smart card otherwise ad traffic on the net will drag the system down; micro pricing solves that problem.  We do not need a system whereby Silicon Valley grants Zuck full monopoly rights to use encrypted transactions.

The German approach:

Since 1999, Germany’s government has strongly supported widespread, strong, and unregulated encryption. In 2014, the government reaffirmed and extended this political commitment when it announced its goal to become the global leader in adopting encryption. However, the government has simultaneously reserved the right to respond appropriately when encryption technology severely limits the ability of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to do their jobs. Instead of focusing on regulating encryption itself, Germany has worked to enable its security agencies to conduct hacking. It has even passed a legal framework tailored to government hacking operations. Civil society and industry representatives have mounted legal challenges against the corresponding provisions. The legal debate eventually led to a landmark supreme court ruling emphasizing the government’s responsibility for the integrity of information technology systems. The conversation is far from over, with some supreme court cases still pending in regard to recent legislation on the lawful hacking framework.

So Germany is determined to stay in the lead on finance, Germany is where the smart card technology is being developed. Germans are likely reading my blog on the subject.