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UK Backs Down From Controversial Encrypted Messaging Stand
Privacy advocates have won a major victory, with the UK backing down from a controversial law that would have weakened encrypted messaging.
The UK has been working to pass the Online Safety Bill in an effort to protect children and combat online crime. Predictably, one of the targets of the bill was encrypted messaging platforms, with little to no regard for the good such platforms do and how important they are to journalists, activists, and many others whose lives depend on safe communication.
The bill was poised to undermine encrypted communication to such a degree that Apple, Signal, and WhatsApp had warned they would pull their platforms from the UK market rather than risk the safety of their users.
According to Financial Times, via AppleInsider, UK regulator Ofcom is preparing to introduce a clause that will exempt encrypted messaging platforms, effectively eliminating the threat…at least for the time being.
“A notice [to companies such as Apple] can only be issued,” says Ofcom’s clause, “where technically feasible and where technology has been accredited as meeting minimum standards of accuracy in detecting only child sexual abuse and exploitation content.”
Encrypted messaging platforms are a common target for lawmakers and regulators, many of whom fail to acknowledge the mathematical impossibility of keeping users safe and secure while simultaneously weakening encryption.
UK Backs Down From Controversial Encrypted Messaging Stand
Matt Milano
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