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If the general public is given a choice between super secret internet messaging, or the current status quo, they will go for the latter. This is because the for

If the general public is given a choice between super secret internet messaging, or the current status quo, they will go for the latter. This is because the former hampers law enforcement's ability to track down criminals and terrorists. And the better informed non-techies are about the tech, the more they will support backdoors. No large service will survive providing E2EE. In the near future, there is bound to be some widely publicized incident where E2EE plays a pivotal role in a big atrocity or financial calamity. Then the public will demand that government, for whom it is already a worry, do something about it. It just seems like a pipedream to me that unfettered E2EE will last in big tech.

stephen_g 2y ago
E2EE is very much in the interest of providers, because if their systems are breached in a cyberattack, E2EE is the only thing that stops that stolen data being useful. People can be educated about that. Terrorists used planes as the key part of the attack in 9/11, and nobody called for a ban on all air travel. It’s not a forgone conclusion people will be fine keeping E2EE!
- thomassmith65 2y ago
  Judging by post 9/11 airport security SOP, if an alternate means of mass transport had been as fast as air travel, America would have banned commercial flights forevermore on 9/12. The only benefit E2EE messaging offers the public over partially encrypted messaging is a lower chance of being spied upon. That's nice, but intangible.
fuzzzerd 2y ago
That seems a plausible outcome. Pretty dystopian for sure, but plausible. Sadly the cat is out of the bag, so banning it for the general public means that only the bad guys have it and they're already presumably doing illegal things so why do they care about using illegal software too?
nickslaughter02 2y ago
"If the general public is given a choice between super secret internet messaging, or the current status quo, they will go for the latter. This is because the former hampers law enforcement's ability to track down criminals and terrorists." I don't know where you live but that's not my experience thankfully. Why? Because the opinion is (including mine) that the vast majority of crimes should not be crimes at all (in this case all drugs should be freely available for adults to buy) and terrorist acts will happen whether you spy on citizens or not anyway.

stephen_g 2y ago

E2EE is very much in the interest of providers, because if their systems are breached in a cyberattack, E2EE is the only thing that stops that stolen data being useful. People can be educated about that. Terrorists used planes as the key part of the attack in 9/11, and nobody called for a ban on all air travel. It’s not a forgone conclusion people will be fine keeping E2EE!

thomassmith65 2y ago
Judging by post 9/11 airport security SOP, if an alternate means of mass transport had been as fast as air travel, America would have banned commercial flights forevermore on 9/12. The only benefit E2EE messaging offers the public over partially encrypted messaging is a lower chance of being spied upon. That's nice, but intangible.

fuzzzerd 2y ago

That seems a plausible outcome. Pretty dystopian for sure, but plausible. Sadly the cat is out of the bag, so banning it for the general public means that only the bad guys have it and they're already presumably doing illegal things so why do they care about using illegal software too?

nickslaughter02 2y ago

"If the general public is given a choice between super secret internet messaging, or the current status quo, they will go for the latter. This is because the former hampers law enforcement's ability to track down criminals and terrorists." I don't know where you live but that's not my experience thankfully. Why? Because the opinion is (including mine) that the vast majority of crimes should not be crimes at all (in this case all drugs should be freely available for adults to buy) and terrorist acts will happen whether you spy on citizens or not anyway.