It makes me wonder -- does everyone end up investigated for their interest in HTTPS and trying to think up encryption methods?
It seems even having a passive interest in computer science or cryptocurrency would inevitably lead to one taking a class or buying a book on these topics. The business person in me always brainstorms the various potential business applications of any technology -- and that inevitably leads to a lot of discussion.
Any system of policing that results in entire professions and swathes of hobbyists being considered and treated as enemies of the state is essentially the same level of injustice as the witch trials of old and shows our species has not improved all that much.
> Any system of policing that results in entire professions and swathes of hobbyists being considered and treated as enemies of the state is essentially the same level of injustice as the witch trials of old and shows our species has not improved all that much.
It's much worse now. Now data is collected on every last person in the US indiscriminately so we're all under constant investigation and being treated like enemies of the state. With detailed records of every person and who they associate with the state is free to pick and choose who to target and can easily find incriminating evidence against anyone they decide has become inconvenient for them. Inquisitors tormenting "witches" couldn't dream of having so much power to abuse.
May I suggest, a brief reading of the Wikipedia article on Crypto Wars[0]:
The Crypto Wars is an unofficial name for the attempts of the United States (US) and allied governments to limit the public's and foreign nations' access to cryptography strong enough to thwart decryption by national intelligence agencies, especially the National Security Agency (NSA).
All of this just seems like government is developing an addiction for lazy police work.
A dragnet approach of digital malware and backdoors is a form of automated policing that will always be as unpopular as red light traffic ticket cameras.
Society has always accepted that some criminals going free is the price we pay for having our rights be respected.
Not any more, but back in the 1970s and before cryptography was considered the province of the military and spies, not for civilians to mess with, in the US and the UK. State-of-the-art crypto was treated much like tech for nuclear weapons. The pioneers of public key cryptography had to fight for their right to publish.
Netscape was required to severely cripple SSL to be allowed to export it in the early 1990s. Since "export" included putting software on an FTP server, this meant no open source crypto software could be on US servers. GNU addressed that problem by hosting some software in Europe.
It seems even having a passive interest in computer science or cryptocurrency would inevitably lead to one taking a class or buying a book on these topics. The business person in me always brainstorms the various potential business applications of any technology -- and that inevitably leads to a lot of discussion.
Any system of policing that results in entire professions and swathes of hobbyists being considered and treated as enemies of the state is essentially the same level of injustice as the witch trials of old and shows our species has not improved all that much.