[JURIST] United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression [UN backgrounder] David Kaye on Wednesday issued a report [text, DOC; press release] calling the use of anonymity and encryption software in digital communication vital to free speech. Kaye noted that due to heightened online security and mass and targeted surveillance and data collection, individuals use encryption and anonymity to provide themselves with “online security.” However, he recognized such encryption and anonymity have the potential to inhibit criminal investigations pertaining to financial crimes, illicit drugs, child pornography, and terrorism. In concluding, Kaye urged that restrictions on encryption and anonymity must be “strictly limited according to principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and legitimacy in objective.”

Government surveillance policies around the world have been hotly debated recently. Earlier this month the US Senate approved the USA Freedom Act, which reduces the federal government’s surveillance [JURIST report] of Americans’ phone records. In March a Dutch court struck down [JURIST report] its data retention law, holding that it violates privacy rights of EU citizens. Also in March France’s government pushed a surveillance bill [JURIST report] that would give French intelligence services the authority to monitor metadata. Such focus on government surveillance policies comes largely as a result of revelations [JURIST backgrounder] by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden [JURIST news archive], who allegedly leaked classified documents, including PRISM and UPSTREAM, in 2013, exposing the scope and breadth of NSA surveillance activities.