>and then the users of that platform would simply stand out in ISP logs making it actually easier to spot them.
Yeah no.
Encrypted data would still be flowing all over the place, if our bad actors use VPN's to hide their traffic then it would become impossible for ISP's to see what they're doing or using.
In addition, even if you can pinpoint who's using encrypted communications, unless you can prove they're actually engaged in some criminal practice, it won't do you much good. With EARN-IT the responsibility is on the encryption providers, so those two random devs who made the app. You can't tell what the users were talking about since communication is encrypted, you can't really prosecute any of the users for anything besides maybe using those apps if it becomes completely illegal or you can prove that the app is only used by criminals and no one else.
Now you can potentially go after the devs, assuming of course you can figure out who made the app, and assuming these people are in a place where US laws apply. The global nature of the Internet makes things very difficult. If a Swedish team develops and encrypted communication app and distributes it on their website, are they still required to comply with US laws? If they prevent US citizens from downloading the app with geoblocking but people get around it with VPN's, are they still required to comply with US laws?
We don't, we accept that encryption is part of the modern world and learn to live with it. Because there's nothing else you can do about it.
See encryption is just math, and you can't really outlaw or limit how math is used.
If we have bad actors who want to encrypt their communication, they absolutely can with or without this bill.
Even if Whatsapp/Telegram/Whatever has to provide the US government with a backdoor to decrypt all messages, anyone can make their own communication platform and simply not give the government a back door. Implementing secure encryption isn't difficult and it's very easy to research how to accomplish it.
Grab a few devs and they can create a simple encrypted messaging app in a few days.
You don't even need to distribute it through official channels. Android allows you to sideload apps from anywhere and you can jailbreak iPhones to install apps from anywhere. So our bad actors can create secure encrypted communication platforms and distribute them without anyone ever knowing about it.
How will this bill prevent that? How will it prevent a few random developers from whipping up their own apps? How will it make it impossible for anyone, anywhere at any time to implement encryption into any app or platform?
Yeah no.
Encrypted data would still be flowing all over the place, if our bad actors use VPN's to hide their traffic then it would become impossible for ISP's to see what they're doing or using.
In addition, even if you can pinpoint who's using encrypted communications, unless you can prove they're actually engaged in some criminal practice, it won't do you much good. With EARN-IT the responsibility is on the encryption providers, so those two random devs who made the app. You can't tell what the users were talking about since communication is encrypted, you can't really prosecute any of the users for anything besides maybe using those apps if it becomes completely illegal or you can prove that the app is only used by criminals and no one else.
Now you can potentially go after the devs, assuming of course you can figure out who made the app, and assuming these people are in a place where US laws apply. The global nature of the Internet makes things very difficult. If a Swedish team develops and encrypted communication app and distributes it on their website, are they still required to comply with US laws? If they prevent US citizens from downloading the app with geoblocking but people get around it with VPN's, are they still required to comply with US laws?