There are some good examples of government oversight over technology companies, such as when they fall foul of anti-competitive laws. There are also some very bad examples, such as when they seek to meddle in something such as end-to-end encryption, which only serves to demonstrate their ignorance of cryptography.

The wise and bewigged heads in the House of Lords are now mulling over the UK’s online safety bill, which, if passed, will allow the country’s communications regulator Ofcom to insist that messaging platforms police their content for illegal images. This is all meant to be in service of protecting The Children from harmful content. To do this, the government wants to install back doors in end-to-end encryption, which as anyone with even a passing interest in the technology will know will also weaken the system for bad actors.