Lawful state hacking: necessary investigative upgrade or privacy nightmare?

After the Snowden revelations, massive encryption of internet communications started to take-off, reducing the investigative power of law enforcement and security agencies that, in turn, increased the interception "on-device" through the uses of Trojans to hack computers and mobile phones.

Giving a legal framework to government hacking is challenging most lawmakers around the globe, especially due to the difficulties of understanding a technically and juridically difficult multi-disciplinary topic like this.

A comprehensive law proposal has been made in Italy by Stefano Quintarelli, a member of the Chamber of Deputies, with the support from legal and technical experts looking at the balance of operational efficiency of security agencies versus the respect for civil and constitutional rights.

This panel will consider the different aspects of regulating the uses of government hacking by law enforcement with a focus on the Italian proposal, but within the context of juridical, political and technical limitations and challenges that it poses.