During the 1990s-era controversies over the export of strong cryptography by United States software developers, Ball's technical background in human rights conflicts directed him to advocate for the widespread availability of cryptographic technology.

His work with the AAAS included traveling to El Salvador and Ethiopia to train local human rights organizations on the use of cryptography and the Internet to protect their communications.

[5] The Science and Human Rights Program also organized or co-organized symposiums, including a congressional briefing at which Ball presented alongside Matt Blaze, Ian Goldberg, and Dinah PoKempner.

[6] In 1997, Ball provided testimony in ACLU v. Miller,[7] a case from the civil liberties group challenging a Georgia law barring online pseudonymity as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.

Ball also testified in 2013 in the trial of Guatemala's former national police chief, Héctor Rafael Bol de la Cruz, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the disappearance of a student union leader.