We’ve all seen political leaders and law enforcement from around the world trying to abolish end-to-end encryption, why is that? Follow along and we will share why we think encrypted communication is being scrutinized.
In countries around the world today encryption goes hand in hand with the right to privacy. You as a person have the right to privacy, and henceforth the right to secure your private data. While this seems like an opportunity to hide wrongdoings, or illegal activities this isn’t the case for the grand majority of the population.
The average person uses encryption far more than they may be aware of. At the time this article was published over half of web traffic has been encrypted using the HTTPS protocol. Why is internet traffic encrypted? Well that’s quite simple! Without encryption, hackers, scammers, and criminals would have access to all the data you transmit and receive on a daily basis. HTTPS wasn’t created and implemented to cover up a criminal conspiracy theory, it was invented to allow the safe transit of information.
So what would happen if the powers that be succeeded in ending encryption as we know it? Well this is where it gets interesting! Encryption is plain and simply just math… The same kind of math that was invented by the Babylonians nearly four thousand years ago. So quite frankly we don’t see Math going anywhere anytime soon. That being said, this means encryption itself would be the target of a new law forbidding math!?
Let’s imagine for a moment that this encryption ban was successful, what would that mean to the average law abiding citizen? Well it would be quite detrimental to your digital life as you know it. You would no longer be able to secure or encrypt family photos, email accounts, digital journal entries, or any other digital information stored on your computer, cellphone, hard drives, etc. This would cause mass data leaks, and theoretically end the last bit of privacy/anonymity we as law abiding members of the digital age possess.
In this same theoretical circumstance what would that mean for the criminals that were the initial target for the encryption ban? Well… to be frank, if someone was to break the law as a way of life, why would they draw the line at this new encryption law? Albeit a new kibosh on encryption would not affect criminal behavior in any way, if they are prepared to live a life of crime why would they follow this law and break all the others?
In our humble opinion the idea of putting an end to encryption would be setting us further back than forward. We believe everyone has the right to their privacy, and by implementing a ban on encryption it would only succeed in removing freedom and privacy from the people who deserve it most.
Nothing to hide is not the same as nothing to lose.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us here at Myntex to let us know what your stance on encryption is!