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Ask HN: Why is giving a secure crypto solution to the masses a good thing?

6 points by nagel1234 ↗ HN
An argument against it that I have heard often is that doing so allows the bad guys to use it and hide their activities. Granted, the hardcore ones can probably do so on their own but what about the ones who aren't so skilled or intelligent enough and who would in normal cases be caught but now can't because of the benefits of good security ? For example, imagine all email was encrypted by default, wouldn't this make it harder to catch the guy who had incriminating mails, who would have been caught ordinarily but now can't be because (luckily for him) all his mails are encrypted ?

5 comments

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mooism2
You could make the same argument against the masses being allowed to drive. The benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
tomflack
You really need to list the benefits if you're going to make a statement like that. The benefits of people driving are clear to me but the benefits of mass-encryption are not. (hence what the OP is asking)
sahil_lmn
Life is about trade-offs. In theory, the benefit of security for the masses outweighs the cost of confidentiality provided to criminals. There are also other ways of potentially getting the criminals' e-mails you need other than snooping (e.g., Google can disclose your e-mail to law enforcement) or getting the intelligence on criminals beyond e-mail altogether.
lazugod
"Bad guys" can just as easily abuse an insecure world.