This document provides an annotated bibliography on the issue of whether private companies should be compelled to provide "back doors" to law enforcement to circumvent proprietary encryption. The annotations summarize 10 scholarly sources that discuss different aspects of the debate, including how encryption poses challenges for law enforcement investigations but also enhances security, potential technological solutions to privacy issues, and legal and ethical issues around government hacking of private systems.

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Annotated Bibliography
Tamika S. Bouldin
Liberty University
CJUS 540
Thesis Statement: Private companies engaged in commerce
within the borders of the United States should (or should not) be
compelled to provide “back doors” to law enforcement to
circumvent proprietary encryption coding.
Annotated Bibliography
Castro, D., & McQuinn, A. (2016). Unlocking Encryption:
Information Security and the
Rule of Law. Information Technology and Innovation
Foundation.
In this scholarly article, Castro and McQuinn (2016) observes
that the continued improvements information security practices,
especially in the utilization of encryption to safeguard the
confidentiality of information, can potentially improve the
overall security of customers and business enterprises.
However, as commodities get securer for customers and firms, it
is getting harder for law enforcement agencies to easily access
and oversee some data that can possibly help them to deter or
investigate criminal activities such as terrorism. This problem
has paved the way for one of the most challenging policy

2. dilemmas of the information era, because encryption not only
enhances security for customers and business organizations, but
it also makes it more challenging for government authorities to
protect them from other sophisticated forms of threat.
According to Castro and McQuinn (2016), there is need to
address this complex dilemma. Therefore, the government can
make any choice engaging in a trade off with businesses.
Finklea, K. M. (2016). Encryption and the" going Dark" Debate.
Congressional Research
Service.
In this scholarly work, Finklea (2016) notes that the constantly
changing technology provides opportunities and challenges in
equal measure for U.S law enforcement agencies. Different
forms of technological revolutions have opened a treasure trove
of information of knowledge for investigators and analysts.
Others, opines the other hand, pose distinct challenges.
Although some observers opine that law enforcers now enjoy
access to more data than in the past, a group of scholars argue
that law enforcement is being kept in the dark on matters of
access to data. To them, this problem is primarily attributed to
the fact that technological revolution has radically outpaced law
enforcers’ speed of technological change. These challenges for
law enforcers include strong, end-to-end encryption, providers’
limits on data retention, bounds on firms’ technological abilities
to offer specific data points to law enforcement, and the tools
that facilitate anonymity online. Therefore, law enforcers may
not effectively perform investigations when they lack access to
data.
Stein, J. (2017). Security versus security: balancing encryption,
privacy, and national
Security (Thesis, University of Texas).
Debates on whether the government should access classified
corporate data has been simmering over the last few decades. In
this scholarly work, Stein (2017) analyzes the existing
controversies over encryption policy. After careful assessment
of possible solutions to ‘going dark’ as well as analyzing the

3. cost and benefits of each option, the researcher found
exceptional access to information to be more harmful than
helpful. In the contemporary information society, there appears
to be no leading solution to the ongoing dark problem.
Nonetheless, Stein (2017) observes that exceptional access to
data and communication is a simple answer to a simple
challenge. According to Stein (2017) the task of going dark is
an uphill one, and as such, requires multifactorial and clearly
defined solutions. The utilization of complex encryption tools
forces people who listen such as the FBI or CIA to be much
more targeted. When it comes to the going dark discourse,
governments have not fully won the access battle.
Soghoian, C. (2010). Caught in the cloud: Privacy, encryption,
and government back doors
in the web 2.0 era. J. on Telecomm. & High Tech. L., 8, 359.
The strength of information security mechanisms has increased
in the face of introduction of could computing systems. In the
last decade, customers, companies, and governments have
moved their data to the cloud at a fast pace. In the process have
embraced web-based applications and storage solutions by
organizations that may include Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
However, Soghoiran (2010) notes that the radical shift to cloud
computing needlessly exposes different user groups to privacy
and confidentiality invasions by fraudulent groups of people
such as hackers. Cloud computing technologies have also
rendered end users incapable of amending the protection of a
person’s private files and documents. According to Soghoian
(2010), such real risks and threats related to the cloud
computing approach to data protection are never communicated
to end user groups. Therefore, consumers are rendered unable to
make real and informed decisions. In light of the above, the
researcher calls for the need for government monitoring of oud
data stored by such firms.
Tashea, J. (2018). Cat-and-mouse game: Customers demand
cybersecurity, law
enforcement wants easier access to evidence. ABA Journal, 10,

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The tussles between government regulators and businesses over
complete access to their information systems have intensified
and are not likely to end any soon. In this journal article,
Tashea (2018) described the sophisticated security control
measures that have been introduced by companies, which outwit
government regulators. In what the author terms as a ‘cat and
mouse’ game, the article describes the iPhone’s encryption tool
as one that has become a puzzle to Indiana State police officers.
Armed with the GrayKey, police officers have a technology has
the capacity to circumvent iPhone passwords and encryption.
Therefore, the police agency was eventually able to plug into
dozens of iPhones in their possession and gather previously
unattainable data for an ongoing investigation. According to
Tashea (2018), communciaiton technologies are increasingly
making it more challenging for law enforcers to collect
evidence, both technically and through service of legal
procedures. Therefore, companies are being urged to cooperate
with law enforcers to provide meaningful data for criminal
procedures.
Harvard Law Review. (2020). Digital Duplications and the
Fourth Amendment.
(2016). Harvard Law Review, 129(4), 1046–1067.
The legal dimension of government’s clamor for corporate data
has been a subject of discussion in the face of widespread
terrorism and technological advancements. In this article,
Harvard Law Review (2020) explores the extent to which such
issues are related to the Fourth Amendment. The phenomenal
growth and spread of digital data in the 21st century has been
both a blessing and a curse for law enforcers. On one hand, this
development has paved the way for a golden age of surveillance
due to the increasing amounts of data that is available regarding
the actual and possible lawbreakers. On the other hand, the
government is faced with large volumes of data to sort through
and filter out least relevant ones. The task of searching such
ever-increasing haystack requires government regulators to

5. embrace different approaches such as algorithmic queries.
However, these approaches are increasingly sparking debates on
whether the government is violating the fourth amendment.
Murphy, M. H. (2016). Technological solutions to privacy
questions: what is the role of
law?. Information & Communications Technology Law, 25(1),
4-31.
The solution to the unending division in opinion between
corporations and government law enforcers have never been
reached on matters related to sharing of crucial data. In this
scholarly work, Murphy (2010) proposes technological
interventions to privacy and confidentiality problems related to
governments’ access to corporate information. Despite the
widespread acknowledgement of privacy as a fundamental
human right, it is sometimes criticized as an anachronistic value
in the contemporary society. Although the prominence of this
perspective has reduced in the wake of the Snowden revelations
and expanded public concern with online privacy, government
supporters are still persistent in clamoring for support when
they are depicted as competing with national security, safety, as
well as socioeconomic progress. According to Murphy (2016),
technological advancements pose major threats to right to
privacy. As a consequence, there have been renewed interests in
technological interventions to privacy problems. As such, the
author explore the existing privacy debates through the lenses
of multiple stakeholders in order to determine possible
technological solutions.
Mayer, J. (2017). Government hacking. Yale LJ, 127, 570.
The information about US government’s hacking of
corporations’ computer systems for law enforcement purposes
has been circulating in both public and media circles. According
to Mayer (2017), this problem has sparked a lot of ethical
debate about citizens’ right to privacy. However, Mayer (2017)
observes that encryption technologies are getting more powerful
as anonymization tools become more prevalent. This has
rendered the government unable to collect crucial information

6. for security –purposes. Consequently, Mayer raises concerns
that the government may resort to use of malicious software for
espionage if companies fail to furnish them with classified
records of all their customers . Law enforcement hacking poses
major controversies for criminal processes. The courts of law
are merely starting to piece through the privacy ideology.
Therefore, the author provides a detailed assessment of how
federal laws regulate the government’s utilization of malicious
software for espionage purposes. This problem has caused major
divisions in legal circles for a long time.