Homeland Sec Approp Chair Rep.John Carter Worried Computers Could Use Encryption

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Strong encryption is necessary to protect against identity theft and other crimes, especially now that cellphones double as mobile wallets. Electronic fraud is a huge problem -- social security numbers, account numbers, personally identifiable data and more are stolen on a seemingly daily basis from companies that used lax (or no) encryption. Encryption stops far more crime than it enables.

Further: There is no such thing as a safe backdoor. Any security hole left for the police is subject to exploit by criminals. And they will exploit it.

Tor, for example, is mainly used for drug purchases and downloading child pornography- this secrecy accompanies criminal behaviour.

That's absolute bullshit. The vast majority of Tor use is by those of us who actually care about maintaining their privacy on the Internet and keeping their search history out of the hands of third parties.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

It's almost adorable how blown away this guy is by something so old and fundamental to computer security as encryption.

He does make a good point about hiding yourself from the government though. We ought to outlaw tinted windows, fences, and clothes while we're at it.

Sadly enough, we had the same kind of handwringing debate over encryption back in the 1990s. The U.S. briefly required, by law, the intentional downgrading of encryption on any product shipped overseas.