Then what is at stake here?<p>We have essentially a decade of evidence to show having access to electronic communications (both encrypted and not) has little to zero effect on law enforcement&#x27;s ability to do their job.<p>Just recently, the Paris attackers use unencrypted cell phone text messages to coordinate and plan their attack. Nobody detected it...<p>Before that, the FBI successfully caught Ross Ulbricht, through good &#x27;ol police work (because they couldn&#x27;t beat his encryption and proxy usage).<p>We don&#x27;t need access to private communications (both encrypted and not) in order to conduct lawful law enforcement -- we just need better law enforcement practices.<p>All this anti-encryption rederick put forth by the government is really just smoke and mirrors, covering up systematic failures of law enforcement.