> but I doubt it will stop the average offender
I strongly believe it will catch the average offender. The average human doesn't have a clue about cryptography.
It won't catch all of them, of course. My point is that it is invalid to say that it won't catch anyone.
> but at what cost?
EXACTLY! The problem is that whoever controls the list of illegal material can abuse it. We fundamentally cannot audit the list because the material on this list is highly illegal. There is a risk of abuse.
"It won't catch all of them, of course. My point is that it is invalid to say that it won't catch anyone."
Sure, but wouldn't they quickly learn once people are getting caught?
No, they wouldn't. People were getting caught before encrypted apps. People are still getting caught on unencrypted apps today, even if it's easy to install an encrypted app.
And predators who get in contact with kids have to do it over social media that the kids use. Those ones would be affected by ChatControl.