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by bfstein 3750 days ago
Disclaimer: I agree with the author on the encryption debate.

However, it's a slippery slope to say that encryption can't be illegal because in is math, and math can't be illegal.

It's equivalent to say that making bombs is chemistry, and chemistry can't be illegal. It's an oversimplification.

Presenting the practical consequences of a backdoor produces a far more sound argument.
4 comments
joeyo 3750 days ago
The math-cannot-be-illegal argument gets more difficult when you consider that the digital representations of files are just really long numbers: Copyright infringement is making a copy of a (really secret) number. Possession of child pornography is the possession of a (really bad) number. etc.

I think the banning of encryption or forcing encryption products to have government backdoors would be horrifically bad policies, I don't think there is anything in our current legal framework that prevents it.

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venning 3750 days ago
To your point, bombs are not chemistry, bombs are the application of chemistry. Encryption is not math, encryption is the application of math.
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Johnny555 3750 days ago
The difference is that math is an abstract concept with no physical manifestation. I can encrypt something in my head, but I can't make a physical bomb in my head.

Even when an encryption algorithm is implemented on a computer, it's still not a physical object, it's just a mathematical algorithm.

A computer simulation of explosive chemical reaction is not going to get you arrested, why should an encryption algorithm?

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techdragon 3750 days ago
A computer simulation of a nuclear explosion could be considered illegal to possess under the "Born Secret" doctrine applied by the US government, depending on the circumstances.
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marcosdumay 3750 days ago
Hum, no, math and chemistry are simply different on that.

Math can not harm anybody because math isn't real, it's speech (yes, maybe except for psychological harm). Chemistry is quite real.

Anyway, I don't see merit on the author's argument. It's true, but useless. The discussion is about protected speech and evidence gathering, nobody is claiming cryptography directly harms people.

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theandrewbailey 3750 days ago
I can assure you that math is most certainly real. Just because you can't hit a head with it doesn't mean something isn't real.
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