Encryption and its "bad use" in today's world

It's time for a proper debate on the use of encryption.

Encryption has come under fire in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris. There is simply no doubt that bad people can communicate with impunity in a world of universal strong encryption.

Western intelligence agencies blamed the technology for enabling communications among the attackers, according to a New York Times report, and some officials renewed their calls for technology companies to give them decryption keys.

However, the terrorists may have communicated through private messages on the PlayStation 4, camouflaging relevant statements as routine gaming chatter.

ISIS use a variety of encryption technologies, which are difficult to decipher. Among them are free encryption apps such as Signal, Wickr and Telegram, for mobile messages.

In the event companies should accommodate government decryption requests.

Encryption "isn't a product where production is limited to specific companies. Weakening encryption could "result in a black market for strong encryption”, observed Tim Erlin, director of IT security and risk strategy at Tripwire. 

ISIS has threatened to attack the United States and continue its reign of terror elsewhere in the world, so an argument could be made that the high-tech industry would serve the greater good by agreeing to weaken encryption. However, the day when security companies give in to those demands is the day there's no privacy for everyone. Privacy campaigners and tech companies, in contrast, argue that the use of encryption is essential to protecting freedom of speech.

If we outlaw encryption in the U.S., they will simply make it elsewhere," according to Lieberman Software VP of Product Strategy Jonathan Sander.