As strong cryptography became easily accessible in the late 1980s and early 1990s, two government agencies grew concerned about its widespread deployment. Similarly, the Federal Bureau of Investigation worried that criminals in the U.S. would use the encryption software to thwart surveillance of their voice or data communications. Over the past decade these agencies have pushed for government regulation of encryption technology and have favored the continuation of current restrictions on the export of strong encryption software. But it is poor policy to clamp down indiscriminantly on a technology merely because some criminals might be able to use it to their advantage. For example, any U.S. citizen can freely buy a pair of gloves, even though some criminal might use them to commit a crime without leaving fingerprints.
Cryptography is a data protection technology just as gloves are a hand protection technology.
Cryptography protects data from hackers, corporate spies and con artists, whereas gloves protect hands from cuts, scrapes, heat, cold and infection. The former can frustrate FBI wiretapping, and the latter can thwart FBI fingerprint analysis. Cryptography and gloves are both dirt-cheap and widely available. It is true that these two agencies may find their jobs more difficult as cryptographic technology spreads. But we should also consider cryptography's benefits to society as a whole.