WhatsApp BAN: Cameron's EU Referendum will decide fate of encrypted messaging app

David Cameron might have to suspend his anti-encryption measures until his In/Out referendum

A NATIONWIDE ban on encrypted messaging apps – including WhatsApp, iMessage and SnapChat – could be possible following the result of Prime Minister David Cameron's referendum on the European Union.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hugely popular messaging services including WhatsApp, SnapChat and iMessage were earlier this year threatened with a UK ban under proposed strict new anti-encryption laws.

But the plans were last month deemed "inconsistent with EU law" – most notably Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights, which concerns an individual's right to privacy.

However if the United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union in the in/out referendum, currently scheduled for 2016, then the European Convention on Human Rights would no longer apply. As a result – David Cameron would be free to introduce his anti-encryption legislation, dubbed Snoopers' Charter.

 

WhatsApp, SnapChat and iMessage could still be forced to change their encryption policies, regardless of the result of Cameron's referendum, as Home Secretary Theresa May is already working on appealing the EU decision against the law.

Recent polls suggest that when voters who say they are likely to vote in the EU referendum were asked about their preference, 44.1 per cent supported staying in the EU while 35.7 per cent wanted to leave.

Downing Street is worried about the level of privacy provided by these popular messaging services, which allow people to communicate without fear of their messages being intercepted, copied or scanned in-transit between devices.

Prime Minister David Cameron had hoped to outlaw this level of privacy to help law enforcement services track and monitor potential terrorist threats.

"As technology evolves at an ever increasing rate, it is only right that we make sure we keep up to keep our citizens safe," Downing Street said, when discussing encryption.

"There shouldn't be a guaranteed safe space for terrorists, criminals and paedophiles to operate beyond the reach of law.

"The Government is clear we need to find a way to work with industry as technology develops to ensure that, with clear oversight and a robust legal framework, the police and intelligence agencies can access the content of communications of terrorists and criminals in order to resolve police investigations and prevent criminal acts."

 

A number of technology companies, including Apple, have spoken out against the measures and refused to remove end-to-end encryption from their messaging services.

CEO Tim Cook cautioned that Apple has "never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services ... and we never will."

However there was doubt whether, should the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill – or 'Snooper's Charter' – come into effect, messaging services that refuse to comply would be banned in the UK.

The news came just weeks after WhatsApp was named one of the worst apps for user privacy.

 

communication between people which, even in extremis, with a signed warrant from the home secretary personally, that we cannot read?

"Are we going to allow a means of communication where it simply isn't possible to do that? And my answer to that question is no we must not. 

"The first duty of any government is to keep our people and our country safe."

Theresa May has been granted permission to appeal the decision against the Snooper's Charter

MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip Boris Johnson spelled out the Conservative's intentions.

"I'm not interested in this civil liberties stuff. If they're a threat, I want their emails and calls listened to," he said.

There shouldn't be a guaranteed safe space for terrorists, criminals and paedophiles to operate beyond the reach of law

Downing Street statement

A staggering 49,079 readers voted against the changes proposed by the Investigatory Powers Bill, which proposed internet service providers, phone companies and technology firms like Google, Apple, Facebook and WhatsApp store a record of all of your online activity. 

This database of information – which would in theory include all your Google searches, your Facebook conversations and posts, WhatsApp group messages and SnapChat videos – could then be accessed by UK law enforcement agencies whenever deemed necessary.

A meagre 12 per cent of those 55,772 readers surveyed agreed with Prime Minister Cameron's plans to intercept online communications.

NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com argued for and against the Conservative Government's plans to increase its ability to monitor online messages.

WhatsApp, like many other popular messaging apps, boasts end-to-end encryption for your texts

One NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com reader blasted the upcoming "Snooper's Charter" by posting: "10 years ago if you were to ask me to think of a place where your letters got read by the government, I would have said East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Funny how things worked out…"

Another added: "The tories have been trying to pass this from the moment they got into government, and the Lib Dems were the only thing stopping them. 

"A law of this nature is a property of an oppressive, Orwellian regime, where ordinary citizens are treated as suspects. 

"Such a government is positioned AGAINST the people, not in favour of them."

One NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com reader took issue with the argument that allowing law enforcement to access encrypted messages could help in the fight against terror.

"The stupidity of the government, to imagine that banning WhatApp will curb the communication capabilities of an ISIS or whoever else," the reader posted.

"Those guys are very far ahead of us lesser mortals in their technology, & for sure will not use a WhatsApp message to order an execution or a bombing, they're not that stupid.

"Mr. Cameron is doing is nothing but blatantly invade the personal privacy of millions of Britons. I mean what safeguards are being put in place to police the watchdogs?"

 

Prime Minister Cameron was branded a "dictator" by a number of NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com readers

Many of the comments also reflected on the impact of the Liberal Democrats during the coalition government.

"Our freedoms are being destroyed one by one. The Lib Dems were ridiculous, but at least they blocked this awful charter," one Facebook user commented.

However – not every NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com reader was against the anti-encryption measures within the Investigatory Powers Bill. 

One posted: "Good. Do not be mistaken, the police access phone records and other social media records all the time at the request of the public because people are constantly reporting harassment, threats to kill, bullying and hate crime via social media. 

"In order to investigate those reports the records have to be accessed. 

"No-one complains about the intrusion when it's in their own benefit. 

"I am perfectly happy for Whats App etc to be banned in the interests of actually saving peoples lives. 

"As if people are so dumb that they won't give up their little techno-fetishes in order to help stop people dying."

 

British police currently make a request to access personal metadata – texts, emails, phone calls and internet searches – once every two minutes in the UK, according to data from campign group Big Brother Watch.

"We have always been able, on the authority of the Home Secretary, to sign a warrant and intercept a phone call, a mobile phone call or other media communications," Mr Cameron added.

“But the question we must ask ourselves is whether, as technology develops, we are content to leave a safe space – a new means of communication – for terrorists to communicate with each other.”