A better question
Why does it seem that only politicians (and their spooks) and people with a surfeit of money want this? It just seems to me that if they're so afraid of people talking to each other privately, there must be a bigger problem here. Oh, sure, terrorism, criminals et al but those subsets aren't going to play by the rules anyway and they'll probably go back to using sneakernet cyphers - if they haven't already.
I suspect the ultimate goal is to extend things like RIPA to light up a beacon over anyone using privacy-enabling protocols and assume their guilt. That is a huge problem because it undermines two of the most important aspects of the UK legal system: Innocent unless proven guilty and mens rea. RIPA is already treading on one of those.
Naturally, government and big business will still be allowed to keep secrets. The rest of us will be in the fishtank, watched by the privileged few. They may as well lock us all up at that point as the whole country will be an 18th Century panopticon.
If you want a hobby, Ray, go fishing. With your money, you won't even have an argument over supper about the cost of those fancy floats.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
