According to US National Intelligence Director James Clapper, the Snowden revelations have accelerated the availability of commercial encryption by 7 years
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9bcFXWInWE&t=247
“as a result of the Snowden revelations, the onset of commercial encryption has been accelerated by about seven years”
“the growing availability of apps that provide unbreakable encryption is obviously a challenge for us”
The Intercept wrote about this, but I cannot say they are very neutral in their interpretation, because they speak of “complain” and “blame”, whereas when I listened to Clapper I did not have the impression he was really complaining about it being Snowden’s fault. He just stated facts, without a negative ring to it.
▻https://theintercept.com/2016/04/25/spy-chief-complains-that-edward-snowden-sped-up-spread-of-encryption-b
Anyway, Snowden seems happy about Clapper’s statement:
▻https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/724629731686137856
Of all the things I’ve been accused of, this is the one of which I am most proud