Reply to post: Re: Stalin would be so proud of him

Re: Stalin would be so proud of him

"Most of Europe seems to manage without everyone owning a gun. It is not a great example."

One can "manage" under a lot of circumstances. The example is quite apt. In most of Europe there are complete bans on carrying guns and bans on carrying anything that can be used as a weapon even... To the point where people who are attacked by robbers in their own homes end up going to jail in some places if they injure one of the poor dears who broke in with murderous intent... And yet the criminals who have plans that require such items always seem to have them where and when they want them. There are entire organized crime groups who make their money by providing illegal weapons for such activities. If smuggling them in proves infeasable they just manufacture them.

Likewise it's been discovered that TrueCrypt's mysterious financial backer was actually a drug kingpin, and the project's shutdown was due to him finally having been arrested. The criminals will have what they need and the only way to stop it would be to reduce the entire population of the planet to the stone age.

Make no mistake: the real target of both gun control and encryption backdoors isn't the criminal underworld like they claim. That's just their way of trying to get you to accept it. It's the common man they're afraid of. In both Britain and the United States modern gun control schemes showed up not when lawmakers saw large amounts of violent crime (They're usually well protected from that) but when circumstances were looking like there was going to be a revolt (Communists in Britain and disaffected former soldiers who were being denied their wages for WWI in the U.S.)

Likewise the call for encryption backdoors didn't start when organized crime and terrorists started using it. Any of them worth their salt have been encrypting their communications and records since before such things were handled by computers, and will continue to use strong encryption no matter what the law may say about it. No, it's when all the serfs "go dark" and suddenly they can't keep an eye on us as easily as they used to that they get worried...

If you want to see what those who want backdoors consider ideal, look at what China's building. That's the goal. Everyone monitored, watched, and tracked 24/7 and anyone who criticizes the government in even the smallest way denied jobs, housing, and transportation until they just wither away and die. Because as far as they're concerned, you're all too stupid, immature, and violent to run your own lives. Never mind that those in government are generally worse than average in all three of those areas...