Coincidentally I read "Crack my Software"[0] just prior to reading this. So it strikes me this is not unlike the "arms race" with copy-protection and DRM. Where we are the publisher and the NSA is the cracker.
Ultimately DRM alone can't do the job. There needs to be a legal environment. Also there needs to be a culture of owning not stealing (which implies an economy of sufficient prosperity). Or the opposite, a culture of never owning[1].
Likewise, encryption is an arms race. Long-term, of course we should seek and use better encryption. But also, we need a legal and cultural shift in favor of privacy.
[1]: Not to push the analogy, but another path is a (very rough, approximate) analog of "free software": As you abandon proprietary software, abandon privacy. Don't fight to protect privacy. Accept "life in a small town". I'm not advocating this, I'm just pointing out it's another way to defuse the encryption arms race, by stepping out of it.
Coincidentally I read "Crack my Software"[0] just prior to reading this. So it strikes me this is not unlike the "arms race" with copy-protection and DRM. Where we are the publisher and the NSA is the cracker.
Ultimately DRM alone can't do the job. There needs to be a legal environment. Also there needs to be a culture of owning not stealing (which implies an economy of sufficient prosperity). Or the opposite, a culture of never owning[1].
Likewise, encryption is an arms race. Long-term, of course we should seek and use better encryption. But also, we need a legal and cultural shift in favor of privacy.
[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6338013
[1]: Not to push the analogy, but another path is a (very rough, approximate) analog of "free software": As you abandon proprietary software, abandon privacy. Don't fight to protect privacy. Accept "life in a small town". I'm not advocating this, I'm just pointing out it's another way to defuse the encryption arms race, by stepping out of it.