Security News > 2023 > August > Last rites for the UK's Online Safety Bill, an idea too stupid to notice it's dead

The open source project has recently announced a secure communications framework, designed for decentralized peer-to-peer use through a multi-hop mesh routing system that combines strong encryption with untraceability.

This same state is, of course, the one demanding that to "Protect children," it should get access to whatever encrypted citizen communication it likes via the Online Safety Bill, which is now rumored to be going through British Parliament in October.

In practice, as those who actually understand encryption have said at endless length, it is impossible to guarantee or even expect this.

What can a government do about a framework? What can it do about open source? The idea behind Veilid is to add end-to-end, peer-to-peer encrypted functionality to any app that can use it, which by itself is a force multiplier for privacy.

The only way to outlaw encryption is to outlaw encryption.

Anything less will fail, as it is always possible in software to create kits of parts, all legal by themselves, that can be linked together to provide encryption with no single entity to legislate against.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/08/21/opinion_column_monday/