Instead you will see key-escrow laws or even bans on encryption.
You cannot solve the political problem by applying encryption.
Instead you will see key-escrow laws or even bans on encryption.
You cannot solve the political problem by applying encryption.
What I love about technology is that it cannot be stopped with lawmaking.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export_of_cryptography_from_the...
Very few lawmakers have really tried, and few technologies have been worth it in the first place.
The relevant question is probably if technology can be delayed by lawmaking and how long time.
There is no doubt however that policies can be changed, most places it just takes elections but a few places may need a revolution.
Thinking this is a problem you can solve by rolling out SSL or TLS is incredibly naive.
That's a defeatist attitude: "we can't win, so let's not even try".
It's not guaranteed that pervasive authenticated encryption will lead to key-escrow laws or bans on encryption. In fact, the more common authenticated encryption is, the harder is to pass laws against it.
As an example, consider how common encrypted wireless networks are nowadays. A blanket ban on encryption would be opposed by many of the wireless network owners. And that's only one use of encryption.
Key escrow has the extra problem of being both costly and very complex to implement correctly.
In the meantime we should not cripple our protocols, hoping that the NSA will go "aahh shucks!" and close shop, when the law clearly tells them to "Collect everything."