Shortish response here. You didn't offend me, man, and I don't stand in opposition to your ideals. What bothers me is that you're advocating public education whilst providing inaccurate narrative. You, yourself, have suggested education through analogies; that in and of itself demonstrates that the concept is too complex for proper education. You have to simplify it, which belies and confuses the depth of the topic. No, that's not anti-encryption law. Anti-encryption would mean there is no encryption, which will never happen; instead it tries to force backdoor encryption which could have a similar effect but is not the same thing. This is the fallacy of trying to simplify the concepts for the masses, and a byproduct of our modern media and information dissemination.
The narrative you've put forth is: "They're trying to remove encryption entirely so we aren't safe." when in reality it's "They're trying to backdoor our encryption, which makes us feel safe even though we aren't". The former conveys an obvious threat, while the latter conveys a much deeper and nebulous threat. I have to explain this concept to you, and we're both invested in the industry and the technologies involved; Do you think grandma is going to be aware of it, understand it, and take meaningful action? Considering the long and continuing overreach of TSA/DHS/FBI/NSA, the odds are slim. That sucks, but it's a reality. Your narrative wasn't an intentional manipulation, but an accident due to inaccuracies and misrepresentations; all too often the people on the other side do it intentionally.
I agree there can and should be more educated people responsible for legislation in the government, but that's part of a larger problem; The need for complete reform and transparency. The system in its entirety is broken and ineffectual and that's not likely to change any time soon. While we vote for a candidate, we elect a cabinet we usually don't even know about until the election is over. Think about that for a second. Now add in the fact that modern law enforcement will break rules first before being eventually regulated. The FBI and NSA have learned to follow the curve we've been using for years: Technology and innovation outpace regulation. This is just one tiny aspect of the overall complexity of this one single problem.
I would say it's not that technologists don't want to participate, it's that we have learned to direct our focus and energy to where it has the most impact; or realize that we don't have control to exert and choose to support those that do.
You, sir, keep being awesome and do what you feel is right. Just make sure you don't oversimplify massive problems for the sake of spreading awareness. That leads to people starting fights with misinformation; drugs are bad, muslims are terrorists, poor people are lazy, etc, etc.
Thank you for challenging my thoughts on the subject. I'll consider what you write here as we come up with messaging. I agree with characterizing the situation as pro/anti back door rather than pro/anti encryption.
Note that this is still an analogy. For better or for worse, analogies are used often in education. They're not the whole picture but they are a tool or gateway to other knowledge, if you will.
Anyway thanks again and I look forward to more critical feedback from you should we get a site off the ground. I can't say I'll necessarily agree but I will try to read and consider what you write.
The narrative you've put forth is: "They're trying to remove encryption entirely so we aren't safe." when in reality it's "They're trying to backdoor our encryption, which makes us feel safe even though we aren't". The former conveys an obvious threat, while the latter conveys a much deeper and nebulous threat. I have to explain this concept to you, and we're both invested in the industry and the technologies involved; Do you think grandma is going to be aware of it, understand it, and take meaningful action? Considering the long and continuing overreach of TSA/DHS/FBI/NSA, the odds are slim. That sucks, but it's a reality. Your narrative wasn't an intentional manipulation, but an accident due to inaccuracies and misrepresentations; all too often the people on the other side do it intentionally.
I agree there can and should be more educated people responsible for legislation in the government, but that's part of a larger problem; The need for complete reform and transparency. The system in its entirety is broken and ineffectual and that's not likely to change any time soon. While we vote for a candidate, we elect a cabinet we usually don't even know about until the election is over. Think about that for a second. Now add in the fact that modern law enforcement will break rules first before being eventually regulated. The FBI and NSA have learned to follow the curve we've been using for years: Technology and innovation outpace regulation. This is just one tiny aspect of the overall complexity of this one single problem.
I would say it's not that technologists don't want to participate, it's that we have learned to direct our focus and energy to where it has the most impact; or realize that we don't have control to exert and choose to support those that do.
You, sir, keep being awesome and do what you feel is right. Just make sure you don't oversimplify massive problems for the sake of spreading awareness. That leads to people starting fights with misinformation; drugs are bad, muslims are terrorists, poor people are lazy, etc, etc.