The argument being laid out is that electronic surveillance, in whole, has played a very minimal (close to zero) role in law enforcement. None of the NSA programs can be attributed for stopping some plot on their own[1] - the few they did lay claim to already had mountains of other kinds of evidence collected through regular law enforcement means.<p>Coming back to the encryption debate - if we cannot stop plots and crimes from taking place that were orchestrated over clear-text communications[2][3][4] - then there is practically zero hope of success by forcing everyone to not encrypt communications.<p>To say that better - if we can&#x27;t stop crimes that are communicated in clear-text, then having the ability to decrypt messages does not change our probability of success.<p>Yes, encrypting all the things will provide some level of convenience for the &quot;bad guys&quot;, but it also provides immense levels of security for the &quot;good guys&quot;, as well as us regular people. Going back 15 years - we did not have capabilities to intercept and decrypt mass communications - yet we still caught the &quot;bad guys&quot;. September 11th happened, and now we&#x27;re all still whipped into a frenzy thinking somehow if we could just backdoor encryption, we would have prevented that attack (which is absurdly false).<p>The big point I&#x27;m making - backdooring&#x2F;weakening&#x2F;banning of encryption makes nobody more safe. Maybe we catch one or two plotters before they do something - but we also expose all citizens to online attacks on their identity, finances, privacy, and more.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nbcnews.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;other&#x2F;nsa-program-stopped-no-terror-attacks-says-white-house-panel-f2D11783588" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nbcnews.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;other&#x2F;nsa-program-stopped-no-ter...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theintercept.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;18&#x2F;signs-point-to-unencrypted-communications-between-terror-suspects&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theintercept.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;18&#x2F;signs-point-to-unencrypt...</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.privateinternetaccess.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;after-paris-attack-where-terrorists-used-cleartext-communications-and-credit-cards-police-state-hawks-demand-a-ban-of-encryption-and-bitcoin&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.privateinternetaccess.com&#x2F;blog&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;after-par...</a><p>[4] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;tech-policy&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;paris-police-find-phone-with-unencrypted-sms-saying-lets-go-were-starting&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;arstechnica.com&#x2F;tech-policy&#x2F;2015&#x2F;11&#x2F;paris-police-find...</a>