[AnthonyMouse]

> Such firmware can be mandated from manufacturers without outlawing encryption directly but making it useless nevertheless.

So the obvious first response to this is that it doesn't actually work. Have you seen the security of these vendors? Apple takes it more seriously than most because they're using it to maintain control over the App Store and yet people still root iPhones. Mandate it by law on vendors who don't even want to do it and it will be completely broken in two days. And completely broken against not only the user. Let's not forget the situation with wifi routers -- "only the manufacturer can issue updates" quickly turns into "security updates are not available from anyone anymore" with the consequent catastrophic nightmare following directly.

But let's pretend we're uninformed pedestrians who don't know that for a minute. How is this idea not even more outrageous than banning encryption to begin with?

[peatmoss]

> uninformed pedestrians

Using "pedestrians" as a pejorative is something I've not seen in a while. What century is this?

[leeoniya]

it is politically more palpable and "sounds" less outrageous to the public than outlawing encryption. which means it is more likely to make it into law and get support.