Troubles with Data… Addressing the ‘Going Dark’ Problem

• Author: Ian Walden

Speaker

Dr Ian Walden is Professor of Information and Communications Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), Queen Mary, University of London. He is a solicitor and Of Counsel to Baker McKenzie. Ian founded Queen Mary’s qLegal initiative and is a principal investigator on the Cloud Legal Project and co-author of Cloud Computing Law and has been involved in law reform projects for the World Bank, European Commission, Council of Europe, Commonwealth and UNCTAD, as well as numerous individual states.

Ian was an ‘expert nationaux détaché’ to the European Commission (1995-96); Board Member and Trustee of the Internet Watch Foundation (2004-09); on the Executive Board of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (2010-12); the Press Complaints Commission (2009-14); a member of the RUSI Independent Surveillance Review (2014-15); a member of the Code Adjudication Panel at the Phone-paid Services Authority (2016-21); a member of the European Commission Expert Group to support the application of the GDPR (2017-21), Director of CCLS (2018-22) and is a Non-Executive Board Member of the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority (2020- ).

Topic

This e-presentation offers an extensive examination of the various policy and legal alternatives accessible to governments in their endeavor to tackle the pervasive issue known as the "going dark" problem. The presentation delves into a comprehensive analysis of these options, considering their implications within the realm of traditional legal concepts, while also placing emphasis on the pivotal role played by service providers.

First and foremost, the presentation scrutinizes the notion of the "going dark" problem, which refers to the challenges faced by law enforcement and intelligence agencies when attempting to access encrypted communications or data that are otherwise inaccessible due to encryption or security measures.

In order to shed light on potential solutions, the e-presentation explores a diverse array of policy and legal approaches available to governments. These options encompass a broad spectrum of strategies, ranging from legislative actions to the establishment of comprehensive...