One of my favorite thoughts on gun control is: "If guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns." With all this talk in the media about giving law enforcement agencies the ability to access all encrypted data, how is it that no one has recognized that the same is true for encryption? Even if every government in the world suddenly agreed on a framework for ensuring their access to encrypted data, terrorists and criminals are not going to use that framework. The outlaws will probably rejoice. Why? because they will know at that point that it is just a matter of time before they either crack that encryption or corrupt someone in a place of power able to get them the keys, and then they too will have access to everyone’s data. The software and the algorithms for strong unhindered encryption are already in the public domain. There is no putting that genie back in the bottle.

Why can’t we just monitor for data that is encrypted using the unhindered algorithms to enforce the law?

A great question. The answer: It’s impossible. Certainly, we know from Snowden that the NSA is monitoring most of the Internet traffic in the US and even quite a bit in other countries. But how would they monitor data encrypted on a portable USB device from a computer never connected to the Internet? What about Amateur Packet Radio (AMPRNet) ? (This is the digital equivalent of HAM radio operators.) What about multi-layered Virtual Private Networks, microwave point-to-point line of sight links, laser based point-to-point links or even an old school dedicated data link created by dialing an analog modem from one computer to another? If the criminals know the Internet is being monitored, they will move their encrypted communications to another media. Even with currently available technology, there is no shortage of methods for criminals to use that the NSA or anyone else would have trouble monitoring because of their portability and limited visibility.

The idea of a framework to ensure appropriate authorities’ access to encrypted data is great, but with no means to enforce those laws, they will have little to no effect on the criminals. However, the normal law abiding citizens will no longer have legal access to truly private communications.