The head of messaging app Signal has warned he will leave the UK if the next online security bill weakens end-to-end encryption.
Signal’s president said the organization would “go 100% full” if legislation undermines its encryption service.
Asked by him BBC If the bill could jeopardize Signal’s ability to operate in the UK, Meredith Whittaker said: “It could, and we would 100% rather than undermine the trust people place in us to provide a means of Truly private communication. We have never weakened our privacy promises and never would.”
The bill has been criticized by privacy activists for a provision that allows communications watchdog Ofcom to mandate a platform to use certain technologies to identify and remove child sexual abuse and exploitation material. It also requires technology companies to use their “best efforts” to implement new technologies that identify and remove such content.
Privacy advocates warn that 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.
Whittaker told the BBC it was “magical thinking” to believe we can have privacy “but only for the good guys”, adding that the bill was an example of this thinking. She said: “Encryption protects everyone or it breaks for everyone.”
Signal, which has more than 40 million monthly users, is operated 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.
Whittaker also criticized a system called client-side scanning, where images are scanned before being encrypted. In 2021, Apple was forced to pause 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 that calls the houses of tech corporations, governments and private entities.” He added that technological “back doors” into encrypted services could be hijacked by “evil state actors” and “create a way for criminals to access these systems.”
Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, told the Financial Times last year that any UK move against crypto would have repercussions around the world.
after newsletter promotion
“If the UK decides it’s okay for a government to get rid of encryption, there are governments around the world that will do the exact same thing, where liberal democracy isn’t as strong,” he said.
A Home Office spokesman said the online security bill, due to become law this year, said the legislation does not ban encryption.
“The online safety bill does not represent a ban on end-to-end encryption, but it makes it clear that technological changes should not be implemented in ways that diminish public safety, especially the safety of children online. It is not a choice between privacy or children’s safety: we can and should have both.”
