Apple has criticized powers in the Online Safety Act that could be used to force encrypted messaging tools such as iMessage, WhatsApp and Signal to scan messages for child abuse material.
Her intervention comes as 80 organizations and technology experts have written to Technology Minister Chloe Smith, asking her to rethink the measure that would allow the UK government to access encrypted messages for this purpose.
The police, the government and some child protection institutions maintain the technology, used in applications such as WhatsApp and Apple’s iMessage, preventing law enforcement and the companies themselves from identifying the sharing of child sexual abuse material.
On the subject, Apple told the BBC that the bill should be changed to protect encryption, a system that prevents anyone, except the sender and recipient, from reading a message. And in an official statement, he explained the reasons why he stands in opposition to the law.
“End-to-end encryption is a critical capability that protects the privacy of journalists, human rights activists and diplomats. It also helps ordinary citizens defend themselves against surveillance, identity theft, fraud and data breaches. The Online Safety Act poses a serious threat to this protection and could put UK citizens at greater risk. Apple is asking the government to amend the bill to protect strong end-to-end encryption for the benefit of all.”
The government has previously said that “tech companies have a moral duty to ensure they are not blinding themselves and law enforcement to unprecedented levels of child sexual abuse on their platforms.” In addition, the Home Office has been heavily critical of Facebook’s rollout of messaging technology.
The Online Security Bill, currently before Parliament, contains powers that could allow communications regulator Ofcom to direct platforms to use accredited technology to scan the content of messages.
Several messaging platforms, including Signal and WhatsApp, have previously told the BBC they will refuse to weaken the privacy of their encrypted messaging systems if instructed to do so. Signal said, in February this year, that in the face of this impasse, it would “leave” the United Kingdom.
The government argues that it is possible to provide technological solutions that allow the content of encrypted messages to be scanned for child abuse material. However, many technology experts claim that the only way to do this would be to install a software that would check messages on the phone or computer before they were sent, called ‘client-side scanning’. And that, critics say, would fundamentally undermine message privacy.
In 2021, Apple announced plans to scan photos on people’s iPhones for abusive content before they were uploaded to iCloud, but these were abandoned after backlash. Now, the company has clearly signaled its opposition to any measure that weakens the privacy of end-to-end encryption, which means that some of the most widely used encrypted apps on the market oppose this part of the bill.
routine check
Apple’s announcement comes as digital civil liberties activists The Open Rights Group send an open letter to minister Chloe Smith. The document, signed by more than 80 national and international civil society organizations, academics and cyber experts, says:
“The UK could become the first liberal democracy to require routine verification of people’s private chat messages, including chats protected by end-to-end encryption. As more than 40 million UK citizens and 2 billion people around the world depend on these services, this poses a significant risk to the security of digital communication not only in the UK but also internationally.”
Element, a British technology company whose products with end-to-end encryption are used by government and military customers, told the BBC that the bill’s measures that weaken the privacy of encrypted messages would make customers less trusted. in security products produced by British companies.
There is a growing expectation, according to the BBC, that changes can be made to part of the bill and will be revealed in the coming days. But the details of these changes are unclear, nor whether they are intended to address activists’ concerns.
* With information from BBC News.
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