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Today the Qatar government-funded Washington think tank the Brookings Institution gave FBI director James Comey a platform to fear monger about cryptography. The FBI has long issued sky is falling warnings about "going dark". Electronic communications, the bureau complains, make it more and more difficult for the FBI to spy on people.

That's hogwash. It's exactly the opposite of the truth, which is that the FBI is now spying in what Bruce Schneier accurately calls the "golden age of espionage." It's easier than ever before for the feds (and even local cops) to monitor an ever expanding field of digital trails left behind each of us as we go about our ordinary lives.

I haven't watched the Comey talk yet, but Marcy Wheeler already has a post up, poking holes in his claims.

Conor Friedersdorf has a great post up, also, where he explains why it's a great thing for people in our country to have secure communications platforms that yes, even the FBI cannot crack.