The president of messaging app Signal, Meredith Whittaker, has warned she will leave the UK if next security invoice online weakens end-to-end encryption.
The bill has come under fire from privacy campaigners for a provision that allows communications watchdog Ofcom to force a platform to use certain technologies to identify and remove child sexual exploitation and abuse material. It also requires companies to do their own “best efforts” implement new technologies that identify and remove such content.
Privacy advocates warn the bill could force encrypted messaging services like Apple’s Signal, WhatsApp and iMessage to monitor user messages and create vulnerabilities in their platforms that could be exploited by rogue actors and governments.
Signal president Meredith Whittaker said the app would leave the UK if legislation undermines its cryptographic service.
Asked by the BBC whether the bill could jeopardize Signal’s ability to operate in the UK, Whittaker said: “It could, and we would 100% go over it rather than undermine the trust people have in us to provide a means truly private communication. We have never weakened our privacy promises and never would.”
Critique of the law
Whittaker told the BBC it was “a magical thought” to believe there could be privacy “but only for nice guys”, adding that the bill was an example of this thinking. She said: “Encryption protects everyone or breaks for everyone.”
Signal, which has been downloaded 100 million times on the Google app store, is run by a US-based non-profit organization and is widely used by activists and journalists, as well as some intelligence services. End-to-end encryption ensures that only the sender and recipient of a message can see its content.
The controversy also comes in the context of a war of messaging applications: the CEO of WhatsApp, Will Cathart, recently criticized Telegram saying that it “sends information to the Kremlin”. It was a response to Pavel Durov, CEO and founder of the latter, who demolished WhatsApp last year with his criticisms.
Therefore, Whittaker also criticized a system called client side scan, where images are scanned before being encrypted. In 2021, Apple was forced to suspend its client-side scanning plans, which would have involved the company scanning user photos before uploading them to its image-sharing service.
Whittaker said such a system would turn everyone’s phone into a “mass surveillance device calling into the homes of tech companies, governments and private entities.” He added that tech “backdoors” into encrypted services could be hijacked by “malicious state actors” and “create a way for criminals to gain access to these systems”.
Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, told the Financial Times last year that any UK move against cryptocurrencies would have repercussions around the world.
“If the UK decides it’s okay for a government to do away with encryption, there are governments all over the world. the world that they will do exactly the same, where liberal democracy is not as strong“, She said.
A Home Office spokesman said the online safety bill, which is expected to become law this year, does not prohibit encryption, so the controversy remains open.
About Signal
Unlike WhatsApp and Telegram, Signal is an open source application, whose libraries and protocols are published on GitHub (a free online repository that allows you to manage projects and check code versions). This makes the implementation of the app and its security protocols easily verifiable by the whole community.
Although Signal started gaining prominence in 2015 after Edward Snowden (global surveillance network whistleblower) praised its privacy and security in a conference, it currently has more than 40 million users and exponential growth thanks to recommendations by various experts and well-known personalities.
One downside it has is that it requires yes or yes to load which phone number to use (Telegram lets you log in with a username, no phone), so it exposes personal data that could be sensitive.
However, Signal’s most notable feature is not only its end-to-end encryption (Telegram and WhatsApp have it), but also the fact that it doesn’t keep any message backups on its servers.
Namely: if the user deletes a conversation, it is lost forever.
Furthermore, Signal has no advertising and does not cross information, as WhatsApp does, for example, with other Meta platforms (Instagram and Facebook).
Source: Clarin
Linda Price is a tech expert at News Rebeat. With a deep understanding of the latest developments in the world of technology and a passion for innovation, Linda provides insightful and informative coverage of the cutting-edge advancements shaping our world.