Take the export controls for example. U.S. businesses must deal with a cumbersome licensing process in order to ship their encryption-containing products around the globe. Some already have. The export controls also hamper the development of secure digital markets over networks such as the Internet, as well as the ability of individuals and groups to communicate privately and authentically over such networks. Criminals are not the only ones who require the utmost privacy and security for communications.
Banks needs privacy, so do individuals, as do countless others.
The proposed domestic key escrow plans also have their flaws, including arguments that key escrow systems do not adequately protect against privacy and security abuses . Such systems are only as reliant as the holders of the keys. To the extent these gatekeepers can be breached by outside parties, or the government abuses its proper authorization, key recovery systems appear frightfully big-brotherish and simply do not make sense. Either stance you take on the encryption debate, you are likely to find support. So entrenched are both camps that legislative progress on the encryption front seems unlikely for the near future.