[Cryptography] Fighting fear (of encryption) with fear (of bad encryption)

[Mathieu Bourrier]

On 27/11/2015 02:12, ianG wrote:
> Here's one answer:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M
>
> You need to watch it all the way to the end.  Sorry, I don't normally
> recommend vids, but this one is worth the effort.  And it answers your
> question ;)
>
> iang
>

Hello,

being no cryptographer myself, I usually refrain from posting in this 
mailing list.
But as I see more and more mails here regarding how encryption backdoors 
are bad and why (which I agree completely with), I think an important 
point is being missed overall.

The crypto war is not about convincing people that subscribed to its 
mailing list as we are all pretty much convinced already.
It's about getting the message to the mass, which does not particularly 
care, nor is familiar with any of the black magic that happens when 
something is encrypted.
Even worse, the mass of citizens is very prone to believe the much 
simpler and much more reassuring message from the backdoors proponents 
("add backdoor, problem solved !")

ianG already offered an excellent video from Last Week Tonight who made 
a very good point that made even M. Snowden pause and reflect on whether 
he was communicating the right way.
I think you'll find this other approach from a theatre director in 
Germany very interesting as well :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ5XMwVs_wY

although it's long, I really recommend you watch it through the end, 
very creative ideas in there, and funny too.
At the start, the speaker also explains well the difficulty the average 
Joe will have understanding the issue of ubiquitous surveillance and so on.

Although it's very different on the surface than what John Oliver from 
Last Week Tonight did, deep down it's the same principle being applied : 
that the best way to convince people may not be through pure reasoning, 
but appealing to their emotions as well.

I fear that most of the (necessarily) scientific minds of the crypto 
community are ill-equipped for this task  : after all, why would we need 
something other than reason to convince someone ?
More crucially, the 2nd Crypto Wars might be lost because of this : it's 
far easier for the opposing side to leverage the public opinion now, in 
our hyper-connected world, than it was during the 1st Crypto Wars.
And THEY know how to appeal to people's emotions. After all, that's the 
only way they can have their way since reason is not on their side.

We need more people like John Oliver or Angela to help us translate our 
ideas to the majority of citizens.
The priority should be first and foremost getting more people like them 
fighting for our side.

Cheers,
Mathieu