UK Government Denies U-Turn on Plan to Scan Encrypted Messages

[MacRumors]

The UK government has denied that it has dropped a controversial plan to scan encrypted messaging services for harmful content as part of its Online Safety Bill, which is due to become law later this year.

A provision in the bill allows regulator Ofcom to order messaging services to use "accredited technology" to look for and take down child sexual abuse material.

However, according to a Financial Times report, the British government's minister for arts and heritage, Stephen Parkinson, said on Wednesday that Ofcom would only be able to intervene if scanning content was "technically feasible" and if the process met minimum standards of privacy and accuracy.

Many security experts believe that such tech tools may never exist, while tech firms have argued that content moderation policies such as client-side scanning 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.

Apple has threatened to pull services including FaceTime and iMessage in the UK if the online safety bill goes ahead in its current form, while WhatsApp and Signal have said they will quit the UK altogether.

Despite the government's apparent concession to tech companies' arguments, technology minister Michelle Donelan on Thursday denied that the bill had changed, arguing that if necessary it will still require companies to work to develop technology to scan encrypted messages if they cannot take action to stop child abuse on their platforms.

Donelan told reporters further work to develop the technology was needed, adding that government-funded research had shown it was possible, however she did not offer evidence to back her claim.

Article Link: UK Government Denies U-Turn on Plan to Scan Encrypted Messages

 

[Jackbequickly]

No government should have the right to read personal messages. We are moving more and more to socialism!

 

[aibo82]

.

 

[Lionel Messi]

Masking mass surveillance with “stopping child abuse”. Dangerous pathway here that will rewind end-to-end encryption worldwide.

I’m happy tech companies plan on abandoning the UK if the bill passes and that will be lesson learnt to other governments.

 

[H2SO4]

The UK government would deny a U turn on a street with no junctions or roundabouts.

 

[centauratlas]

And it isn’t just the UK. Authoritarian regimes around the world (whether fascist, socialist, communist, monarchist etc) want the power to control and see what everyone is doing.

Free speech requires anonymity.

 

[polyphenol]

It is really good to see this being reported and discussed here.

 

[iZac]

My 'glorious' country, a nanny state paralysed by its own bureaucracy.

 

[Jay Tee]

If true, then we've no right to privacy, which is an ACTUAL fundamental human right.

Despotic.

 

[chama98]

The UK government has denied that it has dropped a controversial plan to scan encrypted messaging services for harmful content as part of its Online Safety Bill, which is due to become law later this year.

A provision in the bill allows regulator Ofcom to order messaging services to use "accredited technology" to look for and take down child sexual abuse material.

However, according to a Financial Times report, the British government's minister for arts and heritage, Stephen Parkinson, said on Wednesday that Ofcom would only be able to intervene if scanning content was "technically feasible" and if the process met minimum standards of privacy and accuracy.

Many security experts believe that such tech tools may never exist, while tech firms have argued that content moderation policies such as client-side scanning 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.

Apple has threatened to pull services including FaceTime and iMessage in the UK if the online safety bill goes ahead in its current form, while WhatsApp and Signal have said they will quit the UK altogether.

Despite the government's apparent concession to tech companies' arguments, technology minister Michelle Donelan on Thursday denied that the bill had changed, arguing that if necessary it will still require companies to work to develop technology to scan encrypted messages if they cannot take action to stop child abuse on their platforms.

Donelan told reporters further work to develop the technology was needed, adding that government-funded research had shown it was possible, however she did not offer evidence to back her claim.

Article Link: UK Government Denies U-Turn on Plan to Scan Encrypted Messages

It won't happen. It would have to be voted on first.

 

[ashdelacroix]

My 'glorious' country, a nanny state paralysed by its own bureaucracy.

I agree that the Bill is a monstrosity in all sorts of ways. However, there is still a problem that technology is being used by substantial numbers of individuals and groups to commit heinous crimes, including against children, and that governments have a responsibility to reduce these crimes and ensure that tech companies are actively pursuing ways to prevent illegality.

Life is always about trade-offs. No one, actually, has a right to complete privacy. This is a myth. We exchange a great deal of our personal data all the time and in countless contexts. We are not starting from a perfectly sharp line of privacy that the UK government then wants to degrade...

So I understand the motivations and they are not despotic. However, the Bill fails to appreciate or perhaps knowingly ignores the fact that general security will be diluted as soon as any backdoors are introduced. This is the biggest failing: a weird acceptance from some lawmakers that to reduce crime we must also increase potential risks of other crimes that happen when security is weakened.

 

[headlessmike]

No government should have the right to read personal messages. We are moving more and more to socialism!

I'm apposed to mass surveillance as well, but that has nothing to do with socialism which is an economic theory more than anything else.

 

[nvmls]

Pull out Apple, solved.

 

[nicolas_s]

I fear pulling out of the UK and the EU for US tech companies could become the norm in the future.

 

[laptech]

I am with the UK government on this. They have asked social media companies to stop child abuse images/videos from appearing on their platforms and they have not done so to a level that appeases the UK government. All of them have dragged their feet year after year not coming up with viable solutions to stop child abuse images/video from appearing on their platforms. It was a number of years ago I think that the UK government told the companies to get their act together or the government will be forced to step in and do it for them. The images and videos continued to be posted on their platforms so the UK government decided to act. People all over the world complain about schools not taking action against bullies or assaults' against children or teachers. People complain about local councils not taking action against rogue builders or landlords and what is the one things that is common to each? those affected say 'deal with the problem otherwise I will be forced to take action myself'. If the ordinary man and woman on the street do it, why can't the UK government? The social media companies were warned. They had a number of years to come up with viable and credible solutions to stop abuse images and videos from appearing on their platforms. They didn't take the threat seriously therefore they did virtually nothing and now they complain when a government steps in to do something the companies were asked to do themselves. Therefore what did the social media companies expect was going to happen? that the UK government was going to allow these social media platforms to continue to host child abuse images and videos? not likely. You reap what you sow.

 

[wanha]

No government should have the right to read personal messages. We are moving more and more to socialism!

I'm pretty sure you mean authoritarianism, not socialism here.

Also, what do you think has been happening with SMS messages (which are unencrypted) over the past 30 years?

 

[Luap]

If the gov wants access to our private messages, then we should have access to theirs. Its only fair

 

[Dave245]

I'm with Apple on this on, The government should have no right to read our personal messages and see our photos and videos. I do however agree that harmful content needs to be stamped out, there should be no place for pedophiles in both society and online, in fact they should face the death penalty, but that's a completely different subject. There has to be some middle ground with all of this and what the government want to do!

 

[wanha]

Pull out Apple, solved.

There's always one guy... 😆

 

[User 6502]

No government should have the right to read personal messages. We are moving more and more to socialism!

I agree that the government should not have right or means to read private messages, but socialism has nothing to do with that. The current UK government is a conservative one, and a very right one too.

 

[contacos]

Do these idiots not know what the word ENCRYPTION means or?

Are the service providers supposed to do magic? I hope they follow through with their claim and leave the UK.

Also, is the UK simply to cheap to buy Pegasus like any other rich government? I mean, even Mexico is able to afford it

 

[DailySlow]

It won't happen. It would have to be voted on first.

As in BREXIT with its fingers on the scales?

 

[siri_3005]

Many security experts believe that such tech tools may never exist, while tech firms have argued that content moderation policies such as client-side scanning 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.

Wouldn't they need a stable internet connection to scan the messages?

 

[jlc1978]

I agree that the government should not have right or means to read private messages,

I agree, and once they have it it is a short walk to looking for other stuff, in the name of security.

but socialism has nothing to do with that. The current UK government is a conservative one, and a very right one too.

In the US, everything the right doesn’t like is socialist, and do not see the irony in collecting their welfare check while condemning socialism.

 

[bigchrisfgb]

No government should have the right to read personal messages. We are moving more and more to socialism!

The Conservative government of the U.K. is as far removed from socialism as you can realistically get without crossing into the extremist territory, and some would argue that that have crossed that line.