Sure, you could make unauthorized, fully encrypted communication illegal. But what would be the punishment for using it? Worse than for smuggling, human trafficking, murder? I seriously doubt it. If you're a criminal risking decades in prison for major crimes, using some illegal software is 100% worth it, if it significantly reduces the risk of getting caught for the real crimes you're committing.

You can't make laws that govern how criminals behave. All chat control will really accomplish is maybe a momentary string of arrests(which is meaningless in the long term; there's always someone to take over), and longer term, worse privacy and security for everyone except the criminals.

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rich_sasha 2 days ago | parent [-]

UK has the idea of contempt of court. Even as it stands, the court can demand you submit some evidence - say an encryption key for a document. And if you refuse, they can even imprison you until you surrender the key.

Another principle is that when someone is destroying evidence, you can presume it contained incriminating evidence.

I think you could make the punishment proportional to the presumed crime.

	▲	Jigsy 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		And then what's stopping the police or governments jailing people for crimes _they_ think happened? Especially if they can claim they "presume the evidence was destroyed."