WhatsApp urges UK government to protect end-to-end encryption
WhatsApp and other messaging platforms including Signal and Wire are urging the UK government to review its online safety bill
WhatsApp urges the UK Government to review its online security bill, to respect end-to-end encryption of private messaging services and “guarantee the human right to privacy” since, otherwise, it implies an “unprecedented threat” to the security of British citizens and around the world.
The instant messaging platform warned about the dangers that the online security bill that the British Government is studying to apply could cause, due to the fact that it gives rise to forcing technology companies to break end-to-end encryption in services of private messaging.
This was stated by the person in charge of WhatsApp in Meta, Will Cathcart, through a post on the platform’s blog, which is also signed by the top executives of other instant messaging platforms such as Signal, Wire or Viber, among others.
According to WhatsApp, the users of these instant messaging applications, both individuals and companies, and even governments, face threats on a daily basis such as online scams, fraud or data theft through infections or ‘malware’ that is transferred through messages. To do this, malicious actors “regularly” challenge the security of messaging application infrastructures.
In this framework, the messaging platform ensures that end-to-end encryption is “one of the strongest possible defenses against these threats” and that, therefore, it should be protected and maintained at all times.
However, the company criticizes that the current wording of the law can be interpreted to eliminate encryption, causing institutions such as the UK communication regulator (OFCOM) to “force” the scanning of private messages “compromising the privacy of all users” and creating an “unprecedented” threat to the security of UK citizens and those they communicate with around the world.
Source: dpa
(Reference image source: file)
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