Security News > 2023 > April > Wrong time to weaken encryption, UK IT chartered institute tells government

There cannot be a "British internet," or a version of end-to-end encryption that is specific to the UK. The UK Government must urgently rethink the Bill, revising it to encourage companies to offer more privacy and security to its residents, not less.

"There is grave concern that the Online Safety Bill's requirements around identifying illegal content could break the principle of end-to-end encryption with the promise of a magical backdoor. Once a backdoor has been compromised, data and content protected by the encryption becomes accessible. This is exactly what many bad actors would welcome."

It has for years called upon tech companies to break encryption so law enforcement can listen in: most notably former Home Sec and then PM Theresa May, and later former Home Sec Amber Rudd and former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Erstwhile Prime Minister David Cameron even proposed banning online messaging applications that support end-to-end encryption in 2015.

Proposals for device-side scanning - designed to protect children from harmful content - break the security of end-to-end encryption at the same time, it argued.

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News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/wrong_time_to_weaken_encryption/