14 DAY TRIAL // Running for election in a few months, UK Prime Minister pledges to increase surveillance power for law enforcement agencies, possibly through backdoors in software providing encrypted communication.
“In extremis, it has been possible to read someone’s letter, to listen to someone’s call, to mobile communications… The question remains: are we going to allow a means of communications where it simply is not possible to do that? My answer to that question is: no, we must not,” Cameron said in a speech on Monday (video available below).
Unfettered access to encrypted communication is a tall order
It is unclear how this can be achieved, provided that there is massive talent in the open-source community and a desire to thwart privacy invasion attempts made by government agencies. Also, new ways to reach this goal are constantly explored.
Making the apps that encrypt conversations illegal is not a realistic option either, since users can download copies that are not subject to government scrutiny from servers located in other parts of the globe. Not to mention that companies would not bend to government requests to make their services available without encryption.
Reactions were expected to appear online after this kind of a promise. Security researcher Jonathan Zdziarski, an iOS expert, took to Twitter to offer a funny interpretation of Cameron’s message.
“You misunderstand Cameron's comments. He didn't say he wants to ban encryption. He wants us to keep trusting the encryption they can crack,” Zdziarski tweeted.
It's the citizens that suffer in the end
Following the recent Charlie Hebdo incident in Paris, it is obvious that the Prime Minister’s message is stemming from concern about the safety of the citizens in face of terrorist attacks, but in the end, the only ones suffering from such a measure are the citizens themselves.
Weaker encryption or backdoors implemented in apps offering secure communication to their clients does not mean that only the government has access to the information stream. Hackers are clever guys and they could also discover the weak spot and exploit it for financial gains.
On the same note, this sort of policy could also open the door for abuse, although Cameron said that the Home Secretary would have to personally sign a warrant for eavesdropping on someone’s communication.
Check out an excerpt from Cameron's speech:
You misunderstand Cameron's comments. He didn't say he wants to ban encryption. He wants us to keep trusting the encryption they can crack.
— Jonathan Zdziarski (@JZdziarski) January 13, 2015
ISIS guy 1: I know, let's use cryptography to hide our messages! ISIS guy 2: We can't, it's against the law in the UK. ISIS guy 1: Oh, OK.
— Mustafa Al-Bassam (@musalbas) January 12, 2015
