this post was submitted on 10 May 2026
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I wonder if they understand, it'll be impossible to truly stop this.
Even if they get some of the low hanging fruit. People will just move to the more secure, distributed, and anonymous options.
Or are they actually ignorant enough to believe this is something they can solve.
People with power believe everything happens because they allow it and if they don't like it then they can just make it stop.
Right now if you use encryption the authorities have no proof you're doing something illegal, because you might not be. But if they make (secure) encryption itself illegal, then anyone they aren't sure about suddenly becomes a criminal they're sure about. Then it's just a matter of selectively prosecuting those whom they most dislike. So it doesn't matter to them that much whether lots of people find a technical workaround. If they can't read your messages that's all they need to be able to silence you if you're inconvenient.
I suppose it would be illegal for the French government to use encrypted tools, right?
sarcasm
Most people don't know anything about encryption or privacy. The few who do care will find other options.
That's what I'm getting at. All the 'Bad Guys' who genuinely need the security to do bad things will just move to the other options, along with us tech savvy types. The only people they'll be able to spy on are the normies who aren't actually criminals...
Actually I think I get it now. I'm sure for many of them, it's not about catching criminals at all.
They don't care about the criminals though, it's the normies they want to spy on.
The criminals are going to do other stuff that's going to put them on a watchlist, it's almost inevitable. But normal people aren't going to do any of that, so they have "no need" to be protected by encryption.
That's what I just figured out.