I often argue this point, however I wonder how other people on HN discuss this issue with their non-technical &quot;real politik&quot; (actually just Political Science majors) friends that suggest that prohibiting encryption for non-sanctioned private entities (for example allowing bank transactions, online shopping, but disallowing encrypted chat protocols, emails, etc) is not terribly detrimental for the state barring &quot;morality&quot; concerns and our commitment to the principals of democracy, free speech, and the like.<p>I often resort to, &quot;You can&#x27;t ban math!&quot;, but wonder if there are more outlined resources for explaining this.