> You cannot effectively ban market activity, see war on drugs.
I'm not saying you can ban market activity perfectly, but legalization certainly makes things easier, lowers prices, and increases activity.
> Also such prices are a good indicator of app security
Are they? Surely the price reflects the value of the exploit?
This would to a much greater extent reflect the user base of the app (high variation) than its relative security (lower variation; though the two would have an interactive effect). The larger the user base of the app the better, though more wealthy and insecure (e.g. rich retirees) would have more value to criminals, where as politically engaged young people would have much more value to governments and spies. I would think that the price would be a pretty noisy/poor indicator of the security of the app, relative to the user base.
> but legalization certainly makes things easier, lowers prices, and increases activity.
I agree partially that the fear of being caught is a disincentive. However, higher prices make less people buy it but more people offer it. In a way, illegal drugs with its high potential profits (due to higher risk) attract more dealers (and less consumers). This again puts pressure on the risk premium, so consumers benefit from more supply. So high prices are not really a solution IMO.
> price reflects the value of the exploit
I think it reflects both the reach (~ number of users weighed by their wealth and gullibility) and the "safety" (an open-source app, audited by some well-known company vs. some prototype closed-source app). Since the reach can be reasonably estimated, the safety can IMO also be estimated (as price / estimated reach). I am pretty sure we should not try to agree on a clear metric but I personally would find that info useful when choosing e.g. a messenger app or some piece of hardware (say a router)
I'm not saying you can ban market activity perfectly, but legalization certainly makes things easier, lowers prices, and increases activity.
> Also such prices are a good indicator of app security
Are they? Surely the price reflects the value of the exploit?
This would to a much greater extent reflect the user base of the app (high variation) than its relative security (lower variation; though the two would have an interactive effect). The larger the user base of the app the better, though more wealthy and insecure (e.g. rich retirees) would have more value to criminals, where as politically engaged young people would have much more value to governments and spies. I would think that the price would be a pretty noisy/poor indicator of the security of the app, relative to the user base.