[lenish]

>Banning a single service such as WhatsApp is not a solution to this problem.

Generalizing this argument a bit, banning encryption is also not a solution to this problem. The cat is, as they say, out of the bag, and unless we're going to burn every cryptography book and remove every website documenting cryptographic methods or hosting cryptography code, there's no putting it back [1].

1: Presuming the development of effective post quantum cryptography cannot be prevented and distributed, which considering the current state of PQC seems unlikely.

[avs]

I think this is worth taking a step further and asking for a definition of cryptography...what is cryptography?

Obviously here we are speaking in a mathematical sense, but encryption of information predates the internet. Hell, it predates electricity. Where do you draw the line? can I not encrypt my conversation with a friend by referencing shared unique experiences?

[zappo2938]

I was talking to young woman a bunch of us helped get into drug rehab recently and she said when she first moved here she used dating apps to find people who supply drugs. All of sudden, her best friend's name is Molly and going out line dancing mean something completely different on dating sites. I forget what she was calling the different drugs, but like a secret crypto key, they shared a common language.

[brightball]

You should read The Code Book sometime

[Bjartr]

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.