Avast ye! Them experts be sayin' the Online Safety Bill be a scallywag underminin' online safety, amidst an encryption blast.
2023-07-06
Arrr, me hearties! Them experts be shoutin' from the crow's nest, for the Online Safety Bill be sailin' in treacherous waters of Parliament. Will them policymakers finally open their ears, or be they doomed to walk the plank?
Nearly 70 UK-affiliated information security researchers, scientists, and cryptographers are expressing their concerns over the security risks of the Online Safety Bill. The experts argue that the bill undermines safety online and threatens essential technologies that keep people safe. Specifically, they criticize the provisions of the bill that seek to undermine encryption, a process that protects data from third-party access. The UK government plans to weaken encryption on secure communication apps like WhatsApp, Signal, and email services. The academics warn that this act undermines privacy guarantees and safety online.The Online Safety Bill aims to address the rise in child sexual abuse online and other dangers to citizens' safety on the internet. However, experts argue that the routine monitoring of private communications and weakening encryption will have negative consequences. They point out the lack of reliability of client-side scanning technologies and the potential for surveillance technologies to be exploited by bad actors and the government in the future. The experts emphasize that technology is not a magic wand and that deploying surveillance technologies in the name of online safety undermines privacy and safety.
This is not the first time the tech community has raised concerns about undermining privacy in the name of safety. Over 80 civil society organizations, academics, and cyber experts from 23 countries have pledged to remove end-to-end encrypted services from the scope of the bill. Big Tech giant Apple has also voiced its concerns over the scanning of encrypted communications. Secure messaging platforms like Element, WhatsApp, and Signal have threatened to quit the UK if the bill becomes law, leaving UK residents in a vulnerable situation.
The Online Safety Bill reflects the tensions between politics and technology, with lawmakers attempting to keep up with new threats without fully understanding the implications. The bill has been criticized for trying to do too many things and potentially harming privacy. The debate highlights the need to prioritize child safety offline rather than sacrificing privacy online. The bill is currently in the House of Lords, and the final vote will determine its fate.