[cryptonector]

The weakest point of any crypto is the implementation itself.

We used to say that key management was the weakest link, but now I think the implementation itself is the weakest link.

Alice and Bob simply cannot defeat Mallory when Mallory is responsible for the implementation of the crypto that Alice and Bob are using to defeat Mallory.

But most users can't implement their own crypto. And the few users that could would stick out like sore thumbs. And they would still have key management headaches.

Basically, crypto can work to protect against criminals, but not against the state. That was always true anyways: the state can apply legal and nominally-illegal rubber hose cryptanalysis (i.e., they can beat you with a rubber hose, real or metaphorical, to get you to give up your secrets).