Creating apps like Signal or WhatsApp could be ‘hostile activity,’ claims UK watchdog
https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/creating-apps-like-signal-or-whatsapp-could-be-hostile-activity-claims-uk-watchdog
Posted by xGentian_violet
Creating apps like Signal or WhatsApp could be ‘hostile activity,’ claims UK watchdog
https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/creating-apps-like-signal-or-whatsapp-could-be-hostile-activity-claims-uk-watchdog
Posted by xGentian_violet
6 Comments
Are we doing this again? End-to-end encryption is not a bad thing in itself, it something we all use and very few are using it to commit crime or terrorism. We cannot ban everything just because a terrorist might use it to commit acts of terror, otherwise we might as well ban phones in general.
Copying from another thread on this article, for those not reading beyond the headline (or the top of the article):
This is not the Government saying that Signal or WhatsApp are bad or need to be banned. This is the watchdog (here the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation) pointing out that recent laws (from 2023) are overly broad, and might need to be reined in, or at least carefully supervised:
> Some of the powers and offences extend well into the zone of political activity, journalism, protest and day-to-day human activity. However useful, they must be tested against misuse and overreach.
The context is also important – this is specifically about an “unreasonable stop and search at the borders” power, letting law enforcement stop and question people crossing the border who might be involved in state-related “hostile activity” against the UK (similar to the existing power for people who might be involved in terrorism). The review highlights how broad this could be:
> Since hostile activity does not require any knowledge or tasking by a foreign state, the phenomenon of double-ignorance could arise. A person may be engaged in hostile activity if they do something which, unknown to them threatens, national security and which is in the interests of another State, also entirely in the dark.
The watchdog identifies three examples of this, someone developing an app with end-to-end encryption, a lobbyist for a foreign firm, and a journalist with personally embarrassing information about the Prime Minister; each could count as someone “engaged in hostile activity” because it may threaten national security in the interests of another state, even if neither they nor the other state have any idea about it.
The review specifically notes that “a person could be examined on account of their wholly inadvertent and morally blameless conduct” and sets this out as a problem.
What app would those in power want that enables their own communication ?
The more i hear about the UK Watchdog the more i think they care less about the safety of people and more about the control over people.
Let’s repeat it slowly for the people in the back of parliament.
The. Modern. World. Runs. On. Encryption.
You open the door to not having e2e encryption and then suddenly you’ll wonder why no one can do online banking safely anymore. Buy something from Amazon? Forget it. Watch Netflix? Better get back to the theatres.
Time to engage in “hostile activity.” I know the RSA algorithm off by heart. Fuck the police. They can rant on about kids all they want. Their methods are the same as the CCCP and, whatever their claims, it’s clear their aims are the same.