While I agree with what you&#x27;ve said, the problem is that the sheer majority of people are using defective-by-design webcrapps. In fact, this is what has reopened this &quot;debate&quot; - TLAs got used to firehose access that companies no longer want to provide because it hurts their image.<p>So we, as a society, are in a situation where say 95% of people&#x27;s software choices <i>are being decided politically</i>! If they&#x27;re nudged into [continuing] using backdoored software, then criminalizing the remaining few is pretty easy to do, even if it&#x27;s only through lazily-enforced laws like RIPA.<p>But as I said I do agree with you ideologically and have to hope that as people get a clue the pendulum will swing back to secure decentralized solutions. Because even if our holy leaders dismantled the NSA (et al) tomorrow, it&#x27;s only a matter of time until the same electronic panopticon catches up with us via the private sector through eg insurance policies and aggressive price discrimination.