Ok, so why do we need encryption? When I talk about encryption, I mean 'strong' encryption, the kind that will stop governments reading your e-mails, not the kind that will fool your kids. Not so long ago, this kind of encryption was available only to the military and secret services of large nations, now however, it is (freely) available to anyone who uses a computer. Everyone has the right to privacy, if we ever send a real letter through the post (when was the last time you did that?) we don't expect the postal staff, police or a government agency to steam open the letter and read it, we consider it private, so why not with any electronic communication? If the government wishes to read all postal letters, looking for keywords that may trigger further investigation it would be prohibitively expensive and vastly time-consuming, and would we sanction that? Of course not. But that is exactly what can (and I believe will) happen with e-mail communication all too easily. It is not a question of hiding illegal activity, it is a question of ordinary people exercising their right to privacy. As you have probably guessed, I don't trust the present government to decide what is best for civil liberties or to respect my privacy as a law-abiding citizen.
