Cyber & Technology
Rethinking Encryption
I. Embrace Reality and Deal With It
Jim Baker is a deputy general counsel and Vice President, Legal, at Twitter, Inc. He is also a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School. He is the former general counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of his current or former employers.
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I. Embrace Reality and Deal With It
Encryption and its effects on law enforcement’s access to data seem to occupy a perennial place in the headlines (and on Lawfare as well). The two of us have been working on it for years. The subject is often highly contested, but the fierce discussion has ignored some critical factors. One of those is how changing usage patterns and technologies will affect how law enforcement can—or can’t—obtain access.
Many people would probably believe me justified in hating Donald Trump.
5G promises to revolutionize how people use technology. From transportation to health care to entertainment, the way people interact with wireless internet devices will change substantially. And as 5G enables data to be transmitted much more quickly, the number of devices connected to the internet will likely explode, producing massive economic benefits for those who can quickly take full advantage of the new technology.
On Feb. 11, President Trump issued a new executive order regarding artificial intelligence (AI).
Details of the interactions show why contacts between the president and the top officials investigating his White House were risky for all involved.
In my first post in this series, I wrote that one definition of artificial intelligence (AI) is a machine that thinks. But is it? Several people with technical backgrounds in the AI field reached out to me after reading that post. One comment I received that I found striking is that AI is neither A nor I. Instead, it is just computer code. Nothing is thinking; a computer is just following directions. And AI is just inputs to outputs for a goal.