[apage43]

The thing is, greater anonymity via encryption etc. is not easy to use for the general public. Sure, you can hack around it but not everyone is a hacker. And of course, darknets etc. won't get around the Permission to Shut Down The Internet bit.

[trjordan]

If it becomes a big enough issue, people will write software and protocols that are as easy to use as the rest of the internet. As an example take https: since it was decided that sending credit cards in cleartext was unacceptable, browsers updated to seamlessly use it. The end user sees nothing except an extra character in their URL, but the technology is entirely different.

To extend it to this case, we might see email clients that default to dealing with the messy business of darknets, etc., while providing essentially the same user interface.

[greyboy]

Unless a future step is to require every computer to be registered with the authorities, or go through some central ISP gateway in order to access the New Internet, which gives authorities greater control. Who knows where this kind of stuff can lead.

[Hoff]

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."