Can politicians ever be effective in controlling the flow of data around the internet? There are obviously advisors who are convinced that they can, they seem to be dispensing advice on ways to do it. Do they actually know what the implications of their advice is, or do they feel that they have to give some sort of advice regardless of it’s greater implications. There will be a whole swathe of recommendations after the horrendous events in France last week, but you can bet your last money that there will be a bun fight over at least half of them.
The latest suggestions are basically the resurrection of the idea banning encrypted communications, I’m sure we can all see how that one will end! In the UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said effectively that he will revive the “Snoopers Charter”, this would include some additions like banning several encrypted services like “WhatsApp” and “iMessage”. What I would like to point out is that the effect of doing this is just as likely to be the exact opposite of the desired outcome! What was the outcome of the attempt to silence the satyrical paper “Charlie Hebdo”, I’m pretty sure – not what was expected or wanted by the organisers and perpetrators of the atrocity. So what will the outcome of trying to silence all the people who expect digital privacy be, I’m not sure – but it is almost certainly going to lead to further erosion of individual rights.
What I can be reasonably confident about is, that there will be lots of advisors looking for things to thrust in front of the people that they advise. These people, politicians included have to maintain a public profile. For the most part they seem committed to the most newsworthy and high profile current events, these chop and change by the day. Just like the politicians themselves, after all week is a long time in politics.