> The only problem with that is that the government is not beholden to the same rules that everyone else is. If the government can't break your encryption, the government can force to to break it for them. If the government suspects you of trafficking in illegal information - copyrighted software or music, child pornography, national secrets, or whatever else - the government can force to to prove that you aren't. Or the government can make it a crime for you to encrypt your data, and then you're screwed either way.

The difference is that at this point the government requires my intervention to break my crypto. It goes from the government snooping on my data to showing up with a subpoena and a warrant.

I find it incredibly hard to believe the government would ever be able to pass a law that made crypto illegal, and in fact crypto laws have been getting more sensible as time goes on. Besides, tons of innocent traffic is already encrypted, and I doubt the government is going to tell me I can't use SSL for getting my banking info.

Really, there's no reason why the government couldn't conceivably install a camera in my house to ensure I'm not pirating stuff. I think that is as likely an outcome of pirating MP3s as is the government outlawing all encryption.

Stephen