Srinagar, Oct. 16 -- Encryption, the simple act of scrambling data so that it cannot be read by third parties, keeps us, our loved ones, and our communities safe by protecting everything from private messages to online-banking details and medical records. It is the foundation of trust in our digital society, as crucial for personal security as it is for national security.

Despite this, encryption is under unprecedented threat from established democracies, which are inadvertently paving a dangerous path that the world's autocrats are only too eager to follow. Specifically, policymakers in these countries often present strong encryption as being at odds with effective law enforcement. But this is a false choice. The reality is that we need...