Institute of Economic Affairs Calls UK Government’s Encryption Claims ‘Delusional’

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Institute of Economic Affairs Calls UK Government’s Encryption Claims ‘Delusional’

Matthew Lesh, Director of Public Policy and Communications at the Institute of Economic Affairs, has fired back at UK technology minister Michelle Donelan over the country’s encryption plans.

The UK is pushing a controversial Online Safety Bill that would force companies to provide the government access to encrypted messaging platforms. As security experts have warned time and time again, there is no mathematical way to have secure encryption that also has any kind of back door in it. Despite this, the UK government has been moving ahead with its plans, despite Apple, Signal, and WhatsApp all saying they will pull their messaging platforms from the UK if the bill passes.

Donelan fell back to the usual refrain when defending the bill (via Reuters):

“I, like you, want my privacy because I don’t want people reading my private messages. They’d be very bored but I don’t want them to do it,” said Donelan.

“However, we do know that on some of these platforms, they are hotbeds sometimes for child abuse and sexual exploitation. And we have to be able access that information should that problem occur.”

In a statement provided to WPN, Lesh had strong words in response to Donelan’s statement:

The government’s claims on encryption are delusional. The Online Safety Bill empowers Ofcom to require scanning of private messages — undermining encryption and potentially leading the likes of WhatsApp and Signal to leave the U.K.

There is no magic technological solution in existence or development that can protect user privacy while scanning their messages. It’s a contradiction in terms.

Protecting children is almost always the justification jurisdictions fall back to when defending measures that weaken encryption since protecting children is one of the most admirable goals imaginable.

Nonetheless, when speaking against similar efforts in the EU, Germany’s Head of the Central and Contact Point Cybercrime North Rhine-Westphalia, Chief Prosecutor Markus Hartmann, said this type of message scanning will not ultimately prove beneficial. Instead, Hartmann said law enforcement agencies should invest in improving traditional investigative techniques.

Institute of Economic Affairs Calls UK Government’s Encryption Claims ‘Delusional’
Matt Milano

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