In the last year, we've endured foreign and domestic terrorist incidents, presidential campaigns, and continued escalation of intelligence spending throughout the world. Despite the critical role they play in protecting everyone on a daily basis, encryption technologies have faced countless attacks in the wake of these events. Join the ACLU of WA for a very brief overview of the events that broad us here, specifics on the legal attacks encryption is facing in the United States, and a summary of some of the unique, emerging use cases for encryption that make it a particularly problematic target for overzealous government regulation.