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Comment by GHFigs | Hacker News Reader

What happens when they blame strong cryptography for the next gut-wrenching tragedy involving innocent kids and a bombing / school shooting / kidnapping / pedophile?

Pedophiles (or more specifically: child pornographers) routinely use strong cryptography and effectively nobody cares.

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The point the OP is making is that nobody cares because nobody has been told to care. All it takes is a well-timed news article on how some Bad Guy used Irresponsible Unbreakable Crypto to change that.

Do you believe that your beliefs are dictated by single "well-timed news articles" directed by "the powers that be"?

Dictated? No. Profoundly influenced? Yes, yes I do.

I think that I'm more than capable of detecting most forms of propaganda, but I hold no illusions as to my ability to judge _everything_ that comes my way in a fully informed manner.

I can look back and see cases where too little information, bad information, or even just a misunderstanding lead me to believe in things that just weren't true. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.

It's not about the technically educated minority (though even they are vulnerable to falsehoods perpetrated via propaganda), but the vast majority of people who aren't aware of how computer security works and believe that the government is always working only in their interests.

They can be, thats what the whole concept of memes is all about. It happens.

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