On this, I agree. This is where I part company with the study group. Although I appreciate the rationale behind these assessments, I see the situation somewhat differently. Despite encryption's benefits in the area of crime prevention, we face a potentially serious problem if unbreakable encryption becomes the norm used by criminals and terrorists. We should take reasonable steps to avoid this situation, provided doing so does not sacrifice the benefits of encryption.
Key escrow is one promising solution.
It can potentially meet the needs of users for confidentiality and data recovery, of governments for access, and of industry for exportability into a global market. If we do not promote key escrow, the situation for law enforcement is certain to get worse. Key escrow offers the possibility of containing the law enforcement problem while meeting the information security needs of users and maintaining U.S. leadership in information technology. Key escrow will impact the information technology market just as any safety standard does, but we cannot say with certainty that the effects, over the long term, will harm the U.S. economy. Key escrow need not pose a significant risk to the confidentiality of data.