Draper, Lisa2022-11-032022-11-032022Draper, L. (2022). Protecting Children in the Age of End-to-End Encryption. Joint PIJIP/TLS Research paper series, 80. https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/80/https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=researchhttp://hdl.handle.net/11212/5596It is easy to let conversations about online child sexual exploitation and abuse devolve into no-win arguments about the merits (or lack thereof) of end-to-end encryption. Law enforcement officials bemoan that this technology leads to criminals “going dark,” meaning they can communicate in places that police cannot access, even with a warrant. Privacy advocates cry that the technology is necessary and dismiss law enforcement’s “but the children” arguments as fearmongering. This report sidesteps this debate by simply assuming, without judgment, that end-to-end encryption is here to stay, and asks, how are we going to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse? This report examines this problem in depthen-USchild sexual exploitationonline sexual exploitationchild sexual abuse materialencryptioninterventiontoolsArticle