On Tuesday, The minister stated that “real people” don’t want the feature and those tech firms should do further to help the governments deal with security threats.
But activists have responded with interest to her remarks, shattering them as “dangerous and misleading.”
Strong end-to-end encryption means encoding information or data so it cannot be understood by anyone other than the designated recipient including the organization whose tech encrypts it, or law enforcement with a license.
WhatsApp, which is controlled by Facebook, end-to-end encrypts all its information by default. Messenger, a different messaging app from Facebook, allows the safety feature as an option though it’s not turned on automatically, as makes Allo, a messaging app from Google, with various other apps.
In both the UK and throughout the world, end-to-end encryption is an argumentative subject. Some in law enforcing agencies support it impedes safety services’ ability to detect and react to threats. Privacy activists and technologists answer that the tech is needed to protect users’ data, and any “back door” or weakening of security would be subject to abuse.
In the wake of various terror attack in Britain in 2017, Rudd insists that the tech is finding it more challenging for governments to fight terrorism: “The disability to gain entrance to encrypted data in particular and targeted examples … is right now seriously restricting our agencies’ ability to stop terrorist crimes and bring fugitives to justice.”
The minister says the British administration does not plan to ban end-to-end encryption but would like businesses to willingly move away from it, claiming it isn’t necessary for “real people.”
She wrote: “Real people usually prefer the ease of use and a number of features to perfect, unbreakable security … Who uses WhatsApp because it is end-to-end encrypted, somewhat than because it is an incredibly user-friendly and cheap way of staying in touch with friends and family? Firms are constantly performing trade-offs between security and ‘usability’, and it is here where our experts think events may lie.”
Take your time to comment on this article.