Encrypt all the things!

Can anyone here point to a breach that has actually invaded their privacy in a way that has palpably damaged their life?

We thankfully live in a part of the world where, by and large, the worst that happens there is just identity theft, fraud, some impact on credit score that is hard to quantify, and some inconvenience.

But in other parts of the world the lack of encryption has led to the deaths, imprisonment, and disappearance of protestors, journalists, and just lay citizens who happened to attend rallies.

For me, it is that aspect... citizens without privacy have consistently through history been at the mercy of governments that become drunk on their own power and abuse that power.

Given recent changes in the political landscape, privacy (granted by encryption) is very important.

There is a great blueprint for this in Europe within the last 60 years, the Ministry for State Security. This is the peacetime force that ensured that East Germany was secure post-war, they did this by creating a file on everyone, and at first if you were perceived to be a terrorist they'd act. But eventually these files and laws were used against everyone constantly to make them comply and behave as the government desired.

This isn't even fictional relating to the UK. It is well documented how local governments have used terror legislation to spy on families just to ensure that the parents actually lived within a school catchment area. Abuses of power always occur, and are common.

Encryption is the only way to keep the conversations between you and your loved ones only between you and your loved ones.

Isn't it basically just for terrorists, spooks, crims & sex weirdos?

No.

You use encryption when you access your online bank. You use encryption in your email. You use encryption every day and you don't even notice.

I use encryption on LFGSS, which means you do too because you cannot access this site without encryption.

Without encryption, I noticed that some ISPs were manipulating the pages. They were actually putting adverts in the whitespace, actually changing the header and footer. Putting in airport information if you happened to be there.

Without encryption, any middleman can not just intercept and log the data, but any middleman can also transform the message, the web page.

Without encryption, if a trusted partner said "Hey, do this for me" how could you know whether or not that message came from the person you trust?

Encryption is absolutely critical, to every message sent across an untrusted network. The internet by design is an untrusted network.

Encrypt all the things, not because you are a pervert, terrorist, spook or crim, because that's the only way to trust that the things you have read are as they were intended, or the things you've said left the message intact.

Encryption is the only way to have trust on the internet. Everything today uses the internet, so encrypt everything.

You happy with me standing outside your place and reading all your mail?
You ok with me following you around and noting every place you visit?
Quite ok with me knowing who you bank with, energy providers, social contacts, etc - say, enough information for me to go to a bank with and take over your account?

There's also a simple joy in a digital F.U. to "the man".

Seriously though, why bother with all this encryption bidniz?

That legal, normal thing that you are doing online right now might in five years time be declared illegal and punishable and the powers that be are going to be retrospectively applying the law.