I understand law enforcement's frustration. However, this is quite simple. Encryption relies on keys. Either the government has everyone's keys, or they don't.

I understand law enforcement's frustration. However, this is quite simple. Encryption relies on keys. Either the government has everyone's keys, or they don't. Any stockpile of encryption keys would give access to millions of people's and businesses' data. It would be a hacking target of inestimable value, targeted by criminal organizations and foreign governments using every technique imaginable. It would be stolen. Period. And every citizen and business would suffer disastrous consequences. We can't say this enough in this debate: making everyone's keys accessible to one entity means they absolutely will be stolen. Whether we trust a government entity's motives isn't even relevant. They do not and cannot have perfect security, and that should end the debate. If anyone doubts that the keys would be stolen, please see: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Personnel_Management_data_breach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Personnel_Management... - https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkjkxv/fbi-flash-alert-hacking-group-has-had-access-to-us-govt-files-for-years https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qkjkxv/fbi-flash-...