The Internet Society Somali Chapter in collaboration with members of the Somali ICT sector and Somali ICT students in Malaysia and Istanbul, Turkey will present issues related to the importance of Encryption. End-to-End encryption (E2EE) is very important for a reliable and trustworthy Internet. The Somali Chapter is taking part of the global encryption day campaign that is slated for 21st October 2022, commencing at 10:00 Mogadishu time with the theme: “Encryption matters anytime, anywhere on the internet!”. Please come along, virtually with your friends as there will be a live demonstration on the importance of encryption to provide you the opportunity to learn.
The second Global Encryption Day takes place on 21st October 2022. Last year, the Internet Society Somali chapter joined other Internet Advocates on October 21, 2021, to make a call to switch to end-to-end encryption. We joined the Global Encryption Coalition campaign to “Make the Switch.” We as a chapter of the internet society along with our associated stakeholders decided to submit a petition calling for encryption and its related laws to our parliament. And we will continue this effort this year and will include the executive branches of government. It is important that the Somali ICT sector takes this issue seriously and campaigns with our local MPs and encourage them not to delay the cybersecurity law bill. It is important that we create awareness about encryption to be included in the cybersecurity bills. The Education sector, especially the Universities include encryption in the courses and encourage the students to be aware of this issue.
This year, we have to increase our collaboration and join the global movement. We must ensure that the Somali community understands the importance of encryption. We want to stop the manner of intensified attacks on end-to-end encryption from governments around the world who view it as a hurdle for law enforcement agencies. But systematically weakening people’s digital safety is not the answer. Strong encryption is a fundamental part of how we remain safe online and offline. It allows us to share private data including our financial details, medical records, and personal information online in a secure way, knowing that it can’t be intercepted or seen by other people. That means end-to-end encryption (E2EE) is the process of scrambling information so that it cannot be understood by anyone other than the intended recipient. Even if the information is intercepted, it can’t be deciphered without the correct key.
Technology advancements have continued to call for strengthening our privacy and security as we navigate an increasingly online and digitally connected world. Making people understand that privacy is essential to living an authentic life, being who you are, and telling them what encryption does can increase loud voice engagement. The ability to prevent successful threatening acts from governments where they sometimes create backdoors and weaken encryption, making people not have anything to hide, is a violation of individuals’ privacy. Our call is for standard encryption to be revolutionized in how we securely go online, access banking and government services, and communicate over email and messaging apps. This call is for our privacy and security improvements to be especially compatible and complementary with the systems we use to protect the safety of the most vulnerable internet users.
This year, we will remind the participants through the various groups of media outlets invited, that we all have parts of our lives in encryption, and we do not want our private communications to be available to governments or the public, which can put us at risk. With this kind of engagement, the future of encryption will shine continually. We assume that people don’t know that they can use encryption every day. We want more people to understand that encryption is a friend to all of us for years to protect our sensitive information. The campaign intends to provide people with information on how individuals decode their secret messages. In the end, they will discover the very simple principles behind encryption as a way of creating an entry-level that is easy for them to try. They will understand that it is important for everyone’s privacy to be protected.
On October 21, 2022, which is On Global Encryption Day, we need you to join our efforts to protect end-to-end encryption and defeat any proposals that undermine it. Hope to see you virtually.