Cloud Hosting

Today in Indonesia, media leaders gathered at UNESCO's World Press Freedom Day event issued the "Jakarta Declaration" calling on governments of the world to recognize the importance of a free and independent media in creating "peaceful, just and inclusive societies". The declaration calls on governments to take steps to support the freedom of the press, and, in the midst of the many actions was this statement:

34. Recognise the legitimacy of the use of encryption and anonymisation technologies;

As a long-time advocate for the widespread usage of encryption to protect our personal communication, I was extremely pleased to see this statement included in the declaration.

My colleague Constance Bommelaer wrote in detail yesterday about WHY encryption is so critical for journalists:

The future of the free press is at risk: encryption is part of the solution

She ends the piece with this call to action:

Governments have a role too. We invite them to adopt the SecureTheInternet principles and to support strong encryption, not only to ensure the safety of journalists, but also as a technology that already allows us to do our banking, conduct local and global business, run our power grids, operate communications networks, and do almost everything else.

As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day, we must remember that journalists and their sources are taking enormous risks right now in making sure crucial stories get told.

In today's environment, where trust in online information is at an all-time low, we need free, safe and independent journalists more than ever. We all have a role to play, and encryption is one step to take us there.

We all DO have a role. And encryption is part of how we get there.

I encourage you all to share this news about the Jakarta Declaration; to share the Jakarta Declaration document itself; to learn more about encryption; and to help people understand why encryption is critical for securing our digital economy!

By Dan York, Author and Speaker on Internet technologies - and on staff of Internet Society. Dan is employed as a Senior Content Strategist with the Internet Society but opinions posted on CircleID are entirely his own. Visit the blog maintained by Dan York here.

Related topics: Policy & Regulation, Privacy, Security

Read more:
Jakarta Declaration Calls on Governments to Recognize Legitimacy of Encryption - CircleID