this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
465 points (99.2% liked)
privacy
8913 readers
526 users here now
Big tech and governments are monitoring and recording your eating activities. c/Privacy provides tips and tricks to protect your privacy against global surveillance.
Partners:
- community.nicfab.it/c/privacy
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
That's why I hate the "give the government a master key" metaphor for weakening encryption. You aren't making a master key, you're making every lock worse. The "master key" is just knowing how to exploit the giant flaw you've now created in every lock, and if that knowledge escapes every lock is now worthless.
Knocking "shave and a haircut" now opens every door, let's hope nobody else figures that out! I know! we'll lock that information inside this "shave and a haircut" safe!
TSA luggage keys are a good counter example.
In theory, only you and airport security can open your case. In practice, you can pick them up off eBay for next to nothing.
Its like the old bank deposit zipper bags with the lock, turns out ( because its soft fabric ) you can just push the fabric through the zipper and balloon out the sides that have passed through the zip/lock, and dump out the contents.
One thing I don't like about the "master key" metaphor: I do lockpicking as a hobby. And locks built for a master key are easier to pick, because you can open them with two keys. It seems kinda obvious when you think about it. (You gotta be careful when picking mastered locks though, the master wafers can fall into the keyway and permanently destroy the lock.)