It's not encryption vs. safety. It's functioning software systems vs safety and there is actually no conflict because functioning systems are necessary for safety.
So really the FBI director should have phrased it as "lack of encryption vs. safety".
I'm on the "encryption is a right and essential to functioning software systems" train with you. But I don't want stick my head in the sand and pretend the other side doesn't have valid points.
If all network devices were trivially penetrated by government surveillance, a hypothetical terrorist plot with a WMD has chance A of being discovered. If network devices that are impenetrable to government surveillance are used, I'm not going to argue that the same plot doesn't have < A chance of being discovered (ceteris paribus).
I happen to believe that's a good and just tradeoff to preserve the values of a democratic society, but I accept that others might think otherwise.
The US (and France, and the UK, and everyone else grappling with this that cares to pretend to be a democracy) should absolutely have a thorough, resolute discussion about our options.
If alcohol prohibition was reinstated it would probably save about 88,000[0] lives a year in the US. Between 1995 and 2014, 3503[1] US Citizens worldwide were killed by terrorism. If congress wants to save lives it could be done in a much less constitutionally suspect way. This is why I suspect that saving lives is not the true reasoning.
ethbro|9 years ago
If all network devices were trivially penetrated by government surveillance, a hypothetical terrorist plot with a WMD has chance A of being discovered. If network devices that are impenetrable to government surveillance are used, I'm not going to argue that the same plot doesn't have < A chance of being discovered (ceteris paribus).
I happen to believe that's a good and just tradeoff to preserve the values of a democratic society, but I accept that others might think otherwise.
The US (and France, and the UK, and everyone else grappling with this that cares to pretend to be a democracy) should absolutely have a thorough, resolute discussion about our options.
cmdrfred|9 years ago
[0]http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm
[1]https://www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_AmericanTerrorismDeaths...