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The good ol' debate: To outlaw or not the encryption?

maounique

Active Member
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-41463401

It is interesting how politicians which know nothing about this field think can "regulate" it.
Don't patronize us? Well, then don't interfere in things you do not understand.
But, in the end, people are right, encryption cannot be uninvented, you cannot stop anyone from creating and sharing encryption apps.
Sure, you can throw people in jail for keeping their messages private or for refusing to give the key, however, you need a case for that, so, unless the state can prove at least a connection to the case, cannot order you to do that, at least not before constitutions and human rights are "revised" or abolished.
If encryption is outlawed, will go underground, people will communicate through means not under the state's control, satellites, servers abroad, underground coders for apps, steganography, there are so many ways of hiding small messages in the torrents (pun intended) of the data flowing around these days an attempt to snoop on people determined to prevent it will normally fail. What will happen is that criminals will have the means to communicate secretly and the state will only spy on the average joe, get his voting habits and other "relevant" data. It will not make anyone more secure, just more vulnerable.
 

zomgmike

Member
Verified Provider
Outlawing encryption is an unenforceable law, ultimately. People will find a way around it and do it anyways.
 

graeme

Active Member
It is sufficiently enforceable to work. Only a small minority of people are going to take the trouble to find their way round this. If you look at what governments are trying to achieve it is to read messages in commonly used means of communication: things like Whatsapp. As long as they can get the major suppliers to follow the rules, that will get them 99% success.
 
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