Europol doesn't only want an encryption backdoor, but also your metadata

I mean, would it? Or would they just continue with a massive vulnerability that eventually blows up somehow.

After posting I instantly thought about whether I should've added to that last sentence "... in any society with a modicum of respect for liberty."

IIRC they still tried to put the cat back in the bag.

Yeah it was a big milestone. Many related developments soon followed. It's an interesting coincidence that linux was first released the same year. Strong end-to-end encryption has in common with free software that it's taken an awfully long time for ordinary people to begin understanding that it's important and worth the effort to use. Like free software, once it gets going it can't be stopped.

I think he is referring to PGP being released.

1991 – Phil Zimmermann releases the public key encryption program PGP along with its source code, which quickly appears on the Internet.

Linus Torvalds published Linux

True dat

No need to backdoor encryption then

What happened in 1991?

What about criminals with bad privacy practises?

I mean, yes and no. There's stupid criminals and smarter ones. The general conclusion holds if backdoors stop teenagers from selling weed, but are then used by Russian hackers to conduct high-profile blackmail, though.

And then you get the near-certainty of some government using privileged access to do evil, as well.

The secret of how to do strong encryption is out, since 1991. You can't erase it from everyone's minds. Criminals can not be stopped from using it by passing laws against it. Its only law-abiding people who will be made unsafe by that.

The only reason it keeps popping up has to be that everyone is afraid to tell them: "Forcing encryption with a known backdoor, means no more online transactions".

No more online shopping, streaming, stock trading/investing, etc. Everyone from their grandchildren to their boss would be yelling at them if they knew that those things would be at stake as well.

Remember kids, encryption backdoors are no different to being told not to lock your backdoor because you might be doing something illegal in your house.

You'll not only allow government access to your shit whenever they want, but also any hackers from Russia, China, North Korea, etcetera, to walk in whenever they want.