Governments have always had an odd relationship with encryption at the expense of their own reputation. We have heard of politicians wanting to create backdoors in encryption and now we hear hints that they are trying to ban it altogether, which would be ludicrous. All of this shows that the government either does not fully understand the concept of security and privacy or that they are holding their hands up simply stating that they are at a dead-end when it comes to investigating crime. The old fashioned police tactics cannot decrypt encrypted messages very easily, putting many cases on hold, and no doubt law enforcement is worrying about WhatsApp introducing new disappearing messages also. However, putting the internet in jeopardy by demanding the relaxation of encryption is not the answer. Furthermore, if these rules were ever actually pushed out, the normal user would just move to other messaging platforms which may even be more privacy-focused and deeper underground.  Read Less