Attorney General Barr and Encryption
As a security researcher, I would like to present a counterpoint to the general discussion here, unpopular though it may be: Access to the internet is a privilege, not a right. There is nothing in the US Constitution regarding the internet. An individual is not required to use the internet to communicate with another person, this is a matter of convenience, ergo privilege, but not a right. Along with face to face meetings, letters and phone calls, individuals are also, through the power of software, allowed to implement their own encryption over existing communications channels.<p>The internet has been a force of good, but also a force of evil, in this world. Rapid dissemination of personal opinion masquerading as fact has lead to extremism and polarization across the globe, this is undeniable. Some degree of accountability needs to be introduced into the system for the internet to reach the next level of maturity. The government is allowed to access your telephone records. The corporation holds your records to a certain date as mandated by law, and hands them over when a lawful request (warrant) is made. Full-on disk encryption and end-to-end encryption make it impossible for the government to access those records even when a lawful request is made. Note that the Fourth amendment states <i>unreasonable</i> searchs and seizures. That does not mean the individual is allowed to be <i>impervious</i> to searches and seizures. The reasonableness clause protects the interests of the state and allows courts to decide yay or nay on a case by case basis. That is the very intent and spirit of the law.<p>Currently technology, not law, is the gatekeeper, and technology is controlled by corporations. In a lawful society, this is untenable in the long-term. If anything, it enables tyranny by corporations, since they are unelected and not responsible to the public, whereas elected governments, in fact, are. The history of US is replete with cases where corporations have grown too powerful and governments required new laws to counter the threat they presented to society.