The Internet Society believes that encryption should be the norm for Internet traffic, and that this is an important additional step of ongoing efforts by the technical community to address the important issue of pervasive monitoring. Please see the following statements:

• Statement by the Internet Society Board of Trustees - 15 November 2014
• IAB Statement on Internet Confidentiality - 14 November 2014

Both of these were issued in response to the IETF's RFC 7258 stating that pervasive monitoring represents an attack against the Internet. Both statements also recognize that implementing this aspiration of pervasive encryption raises a number of practical issues and technical challenges. In addition to network management, intrusion detection, and spam prevention, we expect there will be economic and policy challenges. Still, our end goal is an Internet where traffic is confidential by default.

We have published multiple blog posts that express our views. A few examples:

• Encryption Backdoors Come In All Guises - Reacting to Apple's Customer Letter
• Internet Society Signs "Secure the Internet" Online Petition
• Internet Society Supports the Let’s Encrypt Initiative to Increase End-to-End Encryption
• Encryption and law enforcement: aiming for trust
• No keys under the doormat please
• Strong Support From The UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye For Anonymity And Encryption
• Encryption Backdoors Decrease Trust In The Internet
• The Fundamental Tension Between Safety And Privacy (And The UK’s Proposed Encryption Ban)
• Freedom of Speech: Rethinking the Role of Encryption

We support projects that increase the use and deployment of encryption across the Internet, including:

• CrypTech Project
• Let's Encrypt initiative
• DNSSEC
• DANE protocol
• TLS in applications

Beyond the statements referenced above, we have also issued the following statements or comments:

• Internet Society submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of the Right to Freedom of Expression and Opinion regarding the use of encryption and anonymity in digital communications - 10 February 2015

• Internet Society Responds to Reports of the U.S. Government’s Circumvention of Encryption Technology - 9 September 2013

Additionally, the W3C has issued the following findings that we find helpful:

• Securing the Web - 22 January 2015
• End-to-End Encryption and the Web - 16 July 2015

We believe that encryption plays a vital role in increasing the overall trust in the Internet.  Please join with us in helping make pervasive encryption a reality!

Photo credit: Yuri Samoilov on Flickr