Should the citizens of a democratic state be free to communicate over electronic networks hardened against any government surveillance? To some the answer will seem obvious: No. Ever since telephony was invented, solving or preventing violent crime has often involved tapping people’s phones. When digital networks replaced mechanical exchanges in the 1990s, governments demanded that they should still be able to listen ing.
David Cameron is among those who argue that the advent of the internet should not upset that apparent balance between security and privacy. Speaking in January, the British prime minister pointed out that it has always been “possible to read someone’s letter, to listen to someone’s call”, and insisted that he was not “going to allow a means of communication where it simply is not possible to do that”. Many understood him to be taking aim at internet communications services that use end-to-end encryption, a now-common technology that makes it impossible to read messages even if they are intercepted in transit.
Many people will agree with Mr Cameron. True, they will say, the state must respect the rule of law. But they pose a reasonable question: so long as it does, why should new technology trump its demands for information? Here are three reasons why it should.