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Comment by devwastaken | Hacker News Reader

Encryption is a very easy copy paste of programs and Is free, guns are a complex physical device that cost money and must be manufactured elsewhere and distributed to sellers. There's a significant level in effective ability to use them.

But yes, it is similar. Distribution is so widespread that illigalization doesn't affect those who don't follow the law.

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Encryption is actually incredibly hard. This is why it took whatsapp and other apps centrally doing it, and coordinating it between devices, to make end-to-end encryption commonly used.

UX is hard, not encryption.

Encryption is also hard but there are many open source solutions available.

I agree that UX for secure encryption is more of an open problem.

Using established methods is not difficult, though making a good crypto to begin with absolutely is.

The difficulty is using the established methods to build out a whole system that is workable in realistic conditions.

A system that handle sending messages when one party is off-line. A system that doesn't require up-front key agreement between all parties. A system that handles moving devices somewhat gracefully. A system that gives decent guarantees on the identity of your counter party, without being very onerous.

Making a system that meets the above requirements and others I missed, and that remains as usable as if the encryption weren't there is hard.

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