Skip to main content

WhatsApp, Other Messaging Apps Sign Open Letter Urging UK Government to Rethink 'Surveillance' Bill

WhatsApp, Signal, and other messaging services have penned an open letter to the British government appealing for it to urgently rethink the Online Safety Bill (OSB), a piece of legislation that would allow regulators to ask the platforms to monitor users in order to identify child abuse images.


Under the bill, the government could force chat services to apply content moderation policies such as client-side scanning that are impossible to implement without circumventing end-to-end encryption, which ensures that only the user and the person they are communicating with can read or listen to what is sent.
"Around the world, businesses, individuals and governments face persistent threats from online fraud, scams and data theft," reads the letter. "Malicious actors and hostile states routinely challenge the security of our critical infrastructure. End-to-end encryption is one of the strongest possible defenses against these threats, and as vital institutions become ever more dependent on internet technologies to conduct core operations, the stakes have never been higher.

As currently drafted, the Bill could break end-to-end encryption, opening the door to routine, general and indiscriminate surveillance of personal messages of friends, family members, employees, executives, journalists, human rights activists and even politicians themselves, which would fundamentally undermine everyone's ability to communicate securely.

The Bill provides no explicit protection for encryption, and if implemented as written, could empower OFCOM to try to force the proactive scanning of private messages on end-to-end encrypted communication services - nullifying the purpose of end-to-end encryption as a result and compromising the privacy of all users.

In short, the Bill poses an unprecedented threat to the privacy, safety and security of every U.K. citizen and the people with whom they communicate around the world, while emboldening hostile governments who may seek to draft copy-cat laws.
The open letter is signed by Element chief executive Matthew Hodgson, Oxen Privacy Tech Foundation and Session director Alex Linton, Signal president Meredith Whittaker, Threema chief executive Martin Blatter, Viber chief executive Ofir Eyal, head of WhatsApp Will Cathcart, and Wire chief technical officer Alan Duric.

Last year, Apple abandoned similar controversial plans to detect known Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) stored in iCloud Photos. Apple planned to report iCloud accounts with known CSAM image hashes to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a non-profit organization that works in collaboration with U.S. law enforcement agencies.

The plans were criticized by a wide range of individuals and organizations, and Apple ultimately dropped the proposal. "Children can be protected without companies combing through personal data," said Apple at the time. "We will continue working with governments, child advocates, and other companies to help protect young people, preserve their right to privacy, and make the internet a safer place for children and for us all.

Under the U.K. bill, if a messaging service refused to apply the content moderation policies, it could face fines of up to 4 percent of its annual turnover. WhatsApp, Signal, and Proton have already stated that they would halt their encrypted services in the U.K. and pull out of the market if the bill required them to scan user content.

The U.K. government's Online Safety Bill is expected to return to parliament this summer.
This article, "WhatsApp, Other Messaging Apps Sign Open Letter Urging UK Government to Rethink 'Surveillance' Bill" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums



Source: TechRadar

Popular posts from this blog

The Best Early Black Friday iPhone Deals

We've begun tracking early Black Friday deals for major Apple products like AirPods , and now we're focusing on iPhone. Specifically, in this guide we'll share the best early Black Friday deals on iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. Of course, there is a chance that we could see better deals on iPhone arrive as Black Friday gets closer. This is a risk anyone has to take while shopping during the holidays, so with that in mind, many of the deals shared below are currently their best prices ever seen. More information on these sales can be found in our Black Friday Roundup . Best iPhone and Accessory Deals iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max for up to $1,000 off at AT&T iPhone 15 Pro with free Apple TV 4K and Apple One six month subscription at Verizon AirTag

iPhone 13 Pro vs. iPhone 15 Pro Buyer's Guide: 50+ Differences Compared

The iPhone 15 Pro brings over 50 new features and improvements to Apple's high-end smartphones compared to the iPhone 13 Pro, which was released two years prior. This buyer's guide breaks down every major difference you should be aware of between the two generations and helps you to decide whether it's worth upgrading. The ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro debuted in 2021, introducing a brighter display with ProMotion technology for refresh rates up to 120Hz, the A15 Bionic chip, a telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, Macro photography and photographic styles, Cinematic mode for recording videos with shallow depth of field, ProRes video recording, a 1TB storage option, and five hours of additional battery life. The ‌iPhone 13‌ Pro was discontinued upon the announcement of the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022, but it is still possible to get hold of it second-hand. Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two iPhone models is best for you and serves as a way to c

GiliSoft File Lock 3.4

A new program to encrypt and hide to protect files and folders and disks and make it safer. download : http://www.gilisoft.com/download/FileLockPro42.exe

Best Cyber Monday Apple Accessory Deals Available Today

Yesterday we shared a huge list of deals on Apple products for Cyber Monday , and now we're shifting our focus to accessory sales from popular third-party retailers. This includes discounts from Sonos, Twelve South, Nomad, Satechi, and many more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running. Many Cyber Monday deals are known to sell out fast, so keep that in mind when browsing our posts and shopping online today. If you see something you're interested in, be sure to snag it quickly. You can also check out Cyber Monday deals on Apple products in our individual posts listed below. The Best Cyber Monday Apple Deals The Best Cyber Monday AirPods Deals The Best Cyber Monday iPhone Deals The Best Cyber Monday iPad Deals The Best Cyber Monday HomePod Deals The Best Cyber Monday Apple Watch Deals The Best Cyber Monday MacBook Deals