> No one came up with a better "solution" than escrow because there is not one. I keep seeing this statement being made whenever this topic comes up. Yet I've

> No one came up with a better "solution" than escrow because there is not one. I keep seeing this statement being made whenever this topic comes up. Yet I've never seen a formal impossibility result. It's amazing. Cryptographers are the smartest people in the world when it comes to solving most problems. (Just ask them!) But seriously, some of the stuff they can do is like magic. Things that, intuitively, sound like they should be impossible. For example: Zero knowledge proofs? Can do. Oblivious transfer? Sure thing. Fully homomorphic encryption? Coming right up! But then the DOJ says they want some way to investigate the Texas shooter's phone without also getting access to everyone else's data. And suddenly the whole community is like "I dunno man, aren't you just asking me to 'nerd harder'? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ lololol" It was cute at first, but if we keep it up we're going to start burning through our credibility real soon.