The United Kingdom and its ‘Online Safety Bill’ will have very valid objectives, but they are not aware of their risks. Once again we are facing a law that wants to end end-to-end encryption in messaging applications. Under the intention of fighting child pornography, the British government proposes to monitor users, which is not compatible with current encryption.
United messaging apps. “Weakening encryption, undermining privacy and introducing mass surveillance of people’s private communications is not the way to go,” those responsible for the main messaging applications defend in an open letter.
Except for Telegram, the letter is signed by the heads of the most popular messaging applications: WhatsApp, Wire, Viber, Signal, Threema and Element.
Will Cathcart, Head of WhatsApp at Meta, Explain that they “oppose the proposals to scan people’s private messages”, in what is a clear open and determined criticism of a law that could seriously affect the way both WhatsApp and other messaging applications work .
“An unprecedented danger.” The positions of the open letter are quite forceful. “End-to-end encryption is one of the strongest possible defenses against online threats like fraud or malware.” The British law, as defined, would “break end-to-end encryption and open the door to mass surveillance of personal messages.”
A law that cannot go ahead. There are laws that are proposed and perhaps politicians are not fully aware of the scope that such texts can have. The letter states that even the United Nations has alerted the British government: “imposing backdoor requirements constitutes a paradigm shift that raises a number of serious problems with potentially dire consequences.”
Not even the British government is clear. As explained by the BBC, the UK government believes that it is possible to maintain the privacy and safety of children. “We support strong encryption,” they explain, “but this cannot be done at the cost of public safety. Tech companies have a moral duty to make sure they don’t blind themselves or law enforcement to unprecedented levels of abuse.” child sexual abuse on their platforms. The Online Safety Bill in no way represents a ban on end-to-end encryption, nor will it require services to weaken encryption.”
It is an explanation that is hardly sustained as the bill is defined. Even from the government they have recognized the privacy risks that this text exposes, although they point out that “it is not their intention” that the law be interpreted in this way.
If he succeeds, he will have to leave the United Kingdom. The law could also affect postal services such as Proton. The European encrypted email company also defends a position similar to those of messaging applications and goes further: If this law is approved, they will have to stop providing service in the United Kingdom.
Against a possible “British Internet”. Messaging apps believe this law could lead to a “British internet” by needing to create a UK-specific version of end-to-end encryption.
Image | Miquel Parera
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