In most ways except one, the encryption debate is the same as it ever was. So what’s changed?The current administration has demonstrated that app store bans can be used as a hammer to implement policy, and you can bet these folks are paying attention. gov.uk/government/pub…
This is where a lot of these “you can’t ban math” and “anyone can implement encryption in a few lines of code” arguments really fall apart. These people don’t care about any of that, they want to make encryption tools inaccessible to the broader public.
Someone tweeted me a link to Signal’s official instructions for sideloading on an Android phone. Unfortunately, I use an iPhone, which turned it into a direct link to the App Store.
Anyway, one of the greatest features of mass-market encryption apps today is that *having one on your phone doesn’t make you look suspicious.* Nobody is going to assume you’re a criminal because you use WhatsApp.
The minute you have to jump through weird technical hoops to install a privacy app, that benefit of the doubt goes away. Not only will the numbers get smaller, and the network effect go away, but it will look like an unusual decision rather than the obvious one.
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