[yreg]

Yes, I also expect that this is the way, but I think it makes the problem only partially smaller, since you still need to sync and back up the keys.

Also, is an encrypted piece of data with a lost key truly deleted? What if the encryption gets cracked?

I would say it is more deleted than toggling a `deleted` flag in the db and less deleted than burning the tapes in fire.

[anyfoo]

> the problem only partially smaller, since you still need to sync and back up the keys.

I mentioned that: It makes the problem much smaller, as you only have one single, small piece of data to backup and and erase, instead of an ever-changing many-faceted blob of distributed data.

> Also, is an encrypted piece of data with a lost key truly deleted? What if the encryption gets cracked?

Oh boy. If simple symmetric encryption gets “cracked”, then you have much larger problems.

> I would say it is more deleted than toggling a `deleted` flag in the db and less deleted than burning the tapes in fire.

For all practical purposes symmetrically encrypted data that lost its keys is considered “random” data. If you “erase” data on a device before you sell it, most often it will just throw away the key to the disk contents nowadays.