On Tuesday, Congress said it intends to pass legislation to regulate encryption if Silicon Valley doesn’t give the government complete access to everyone’s private communications.

Attorney General William P. Barr demanded that no one should have to right to private communications, and that the government should have access to everything.

Senator Lindsey Graham said: “You’re going to find a way to do this, or we’re going to do this for you ... You’re either the solution or you’re the problem.”

WeChat and Facebook Messenger executives responded to the government letter, saying that a “backdoor” would make their users less safe: “The ‘backdoor’ access you are demanding for law enforcement would be a gift to criminals, hackers and repressive regimes, creating a way for them to enter our systems and leaving every person on our platforms more vulnerable to real-life harm."

Also, end-to-end encryption is the only way that we can have private communication online.

The entire tone of a society changes when people know they’re being surveilled. We self-censor. We conform and live in fear. A surveilled society is a repressed society, and we are dangerously close to having every part of our lives observed.

Facebook has recently begun a transition to a more privacy-focused platform, with Zuckerberg saying “Privacy gives people the freedom to be themselves and connect more naturally, which is why we build social networks.”

Let's hope they succeed, and the government doesn't get in their way.

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