The United States federal government should require technology companies to provide lawful access to encrypted communications.

Encryption allows child exploitation at scale, overwhelming current detection efforts.

HTF 23 [Human Trafficking Front, 2023, "Encrypted Message Apps and Child Safety,"

Child Abuse ScaleData from the Internet Watch Foundation shows that about 69% of CSAM they discover contains images of children 13 and younger. [2]This discovery highlights the need for protection beyond the discretion of online minors.Advancements in computer storage, file sharing, and cloud computing enable average users to send vast quantities of encrypted CSAM.While current tools might be adequate for a much smaller suspect pool, the time required to address modern levels of illicit content is unmanageable. Encryption and Law EnforcementNear-ubiquitous encryption has frustrated law enforcement efforts to discover CSAM.To interpret an end-to-end encrypted message, officials likely must find and access the messaging device.Without the owner’s cooperation, inspecting this machine requires a warrant.U.S. courts demand a high standard of evidence before giving warrants to search a suspect’s device.

Terrorists exploit encrypted apps for planning and recruitment.

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For example, encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram have been utilized by various terrorist factions to facilitate planning, recruitment, and fundraising activities without leaving traceable data for law enforcement to analyze. The widespread use of these platforms highlights how encryption is integral to the operational success of cyber terrorism. Encryption also plays a vital role in the execution of cyber-attacks, including attacks on critical infrastructure, financial systems, and government databases. Cyber terrorists may use encryption to conceal malicious software, such as ransomware, that targets key infrastructure. This kind of attack can be used to disrupt operations, extort ransom payments, or even cause long-term damage to a nation’s economy or security apparatus. In some cases, encrypted malware is designed to ensure that the malicious code cannot be easily detected or reversed, complicating efforts to recover from the attack.

Encryption allows traffickers to operate with impunity, hurting investigations.

Vilim 23 [Lukas Vilim, Analyst for ICMPD, 01-13-2023, Cryptography – how modern technology plays

Cryptography in the hands of these criminal entities makes it more difficult for law enforcement and border authorities to detect, document and investigate serious crime related to smuggling and trafficking in human beings. New technologies have a significant influence on the formation of new modus operandi used by organised crime groups involved in international trafficking in human beings and people smuggling. Technology has broadened criminals’ ability to traffic human beings for different types of exploitation, including sexual and labour exploitation, the removal of organs, illegal adoption of children and forced marriages. Organised criminal groups that are active in people smuggling and human trafficking are using modern communication technologies to exploit their victims multiple times over: from advertising and recruiting victims to blackmailing them with photos and videos to control their movements.

Selective weakening is impossible; a backdoor exposes everyone.

Walsh 25 [Paul, Founder of MetaCert, a cybersecurity firm based in San Francisco, 7-23-2025, “Why

That’s not how maths or software works. If you build a tool that lets anyone decrypt private messages, that tool exists. Once it exists, it introduces a vulnerability that can’t be confined to “the good guys.” No one has invented a form of encryption that selectively fails only when a warrant is present. Technology experts are not opposing lawful access because of ideology. Their position is based on mathematics. Literally. Once you introduce a flaw into a secure system, that system is no longer secure. You cannot build an exception that works safely for some without exposing everyone to risk. That is why every respected cryptographer has warned against this idea for decades. Calling it something softer, like lawful access, doesn’t change what it is. It’s a back door. It’s a deliberate weakness built into a system that is supposed to be secure. Legal safeguards don’t fix this. Authoritarian regimes will demand access.

Encryption allows IPV survivors to safely plan escapes and gather evidence.

Mcnamee 25 [Elinor; September 16th; She is a Blume Public Interest Scholar and Global Law Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center; New America "Privacy, Power, and Protection: Why Weakening Encryption Hurts Women and Gender Minorities," https://www.newamerica.org/oti/blog/privacy-power-and-protection-why-weakening-encryption-hurts-women-and-gender-minorities/] ryan

When it comes to privacy, the stakes are extremely high for survivors of IPV, with one in five homicide victims in the United States having been killed by an intimate partner. The Internet Society worked with the National Network to End Domestic Violence to collate examples of how encryption can materially protect survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and trafficking. They demonstrated that survivors of abuse often rely on encrypted messaging to contact support services, coordinate escape plans, or document their experiences to preserve evidence for legal action. Encryption protects survivors' communication and information from unauthorized access, including from their abuser. It also protects the integrity of evidence and empowers survivors to communicate safely and securely when seeking help.

Weakening encryption costs billions, crippling the economy.

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The economic cost of weakening encryption, therefore, provides the illusion of protection while actually crippling the economy. We believe this is an important contribution to the debate around encryption regulation that helps to move the discussion forward. Governments and LEIAs must cooperate better with technologists and take a more practical, incremental approach to policies and legislation that affect national security and public safety, rather than mandating encryption backdoors or ubiquitous surveillance.