DES Controversy

                In a previous blog, I talked about the controversy regarding how much the government should be allowed to “invade the public’s privacy.” Now, I am pondering a similar, yet completely different question. Should the government be allowed to restrict the means by which the public gets its privacy? This controversy stems from the idea of DES. The government wants to restrict the security of the codes businesses use to  keep their products safe so it can in turn keep the public safe. However, by doing this, the businesses themselves are putting themselves at risk on the chance that there are hackers out there capable of breaking DES. With technology continuing to advance, how often should the standard be changed? Should the government be more focused on building its hacking capabilities rather than weakening the security of the standard coding system?