If a country like the UK decided to ban end-to-end encryption, how would they even enforce it? I understand that they could demand big companies like Apple stop providing such services to their customers and withdraw certain apps from the UK App Store. But what’s stopping someone from simply going online and downloading an app like Session? I mean, piracy is banned too, yet you can still download a torrent client and start pirating. What would a ban like this actually prohibit in the end?

  • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
    1·
    17 days ago

    Rules and enforcement are different.

    If you make the behavior illegal, you can use that behavior to prosecute people you don’t like. Even if you can’t really control every instance of that behavior. Like speeding laws

    If encryption is illegal, then every company operating legally in your country will not offer encryption. Making it very unavailable to the majority of people. That’s 80% of your problem right there. The other 20% will persist, but if they become a problem you can target them with the above law about using illegal math.

    It’s not about perfection, it’s about layered defense to weaken your enemies. And when you see the people in your country as the enemies of the government, then you’re going to see a lot of threats.

    • reksas@sopuli.xyz
      1·
      17 days ago

      surely they would retain the encryption capability for themselves so this is not a problem for them.