In “Metaverse must stick to online safety rules, say experts” (Report, February 7) you discuss how content moderation is handled in the government’s online safety bill. But there is also a question around encryption, and how technology companies will be forced to remove the privacy and security of encrypted services such as WhatsApp and Signal.
Even worse, the Home Office has launched a scaremongering campaign wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds on a London advertising agency to undermine public trust in a critical digital security tool to keep people and businesses safe online.
Undermining encryption would make our private communications unsafe and would put at risk the safety of those who need it most. Survivors of abuse or domestic violence, including children, need secure and confidential communications to speak to loved ones and access the support they need.
As Stephen Bonner, executive director for technology and innovation at the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, recently noted, end-to-end encryption “strengthens children’s online safety by not allowing criminals and abusers to send them harmful content or access their pictures or location”.
Contrary to what the Home Office claims, leading cyber security experts conclude that even message scanning “creates serious security and privacy risks for all society while the assistance it can provide for law enforcement is at best problematic”.
The government must reassess their decision to wage war on a technology that is essential to so many people in the UK and beyond.
Jim Killock
Executive Director, Open Rights Group
London WC1, UK
Letter: Waging war on encryption makes online users unsafe
Pinoy Variant