What's up with encryption?

Encryption is hot. Perhaps that's because its been around so long it's no longer seen as a black art. Or perhaps security issues have grown so prevalent, everyone wants some sort of encryption as a truly secure way of stopping the pain of those problems. Indeed whatever the reason, encryption technologies seem to be behind a series of important security happenings of late. Here's a look at some of the more interesting happenings shaping encryption today:

The backdoor question: The Obama administration wants e-mail service providers using encryption technology to leave in a backdoor so that the government can peer in if it needs to. According to a New York Times article this week, the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year that requires e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and direct "peer to peer" messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a federal wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.