British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has it out for encrypted mobile messaging services in the wake of attacks in Paris, announcing yesterday that he’d seek to ban said services if he was returned to power in the upcoming election. So what counts as an encrypted messaging service then? Well, according to a report, it’s anything that British spooks can’t easily read. Think WhatsApp and Snapchat for starters.
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In an address yesterday, first reported by the NY Times, PM Cameron said that the UK government would not allow “a means of communications which it simply isn’t possible to read”.
“The attacks in Paris demonstrated the scale of the threat that we face and the need to have robust powers through our intelligence and security agencies in order to keep our people safe,” Cameron said.
The UK already has a data retention law that already captures data from the likes of online mail services and other communications networks. The law was rushed through the Parliament last year.
PM Cameron isn’t the first politician to say that government spooks ought to be able to read messages sent back and forth in the name of national security. Following the attacks in Paris and even closer to home in Sydney’s Martin Place, Attorney General George Brandis has reaffirmed the need for metadata retention. [NY Times]