UK government wants WhatsApp and others to terminate end-to-end encryption, so they can spy on you

There would be nothing special if this news came from countries like China, Russia or North Korea, but given that it comes from one of the cradles of democracy, freedom of speech, and privacy concerns, it should not be ignored.

So, the UK Government passed a bill that aims to force services such as WhatsApp, Viber, Signal, and others to terminate end-to-end encryption in respective applications. End-to-end encryption means that the communication between user A and user B is completely encrypted, that is, no one, not even the provider itself, has the possibility to break into that communication or observe it. Moreover, it represents an extremely high level of security against malicious software, hackers, and other entities eager for your personal data and various information.

However, it seems that the British government no longer likes its citizens (and companies) to enjoy privacy and freedom, since it passed a draft law that requires such services to pull the plug on end-to-end encryption. If they don’t obey the new law, they will be fined 4% of their total annual income.

WhatsApp and Signal immediately reacted by sending an open letter to the British government stating all the negative consequences such a law can produce. If the bill becomes law, some companies that provide such services will probably leave the UK market, while Signal and Proton have already announced the possibility of complying with the requirements, that is, of abolishing encryption in this country. If the encryption is broken, the authorities will be able to read literally every message and see every picture and video of the users. We can understand motives such as the fight against crime or terrorism, but the fact is that these platitudes are often used to achieve completely different objectives.

The worst of all is that in the case of termination of encryption, there will be a greater vulnerability of communication. This means that the effect will be exactly the opposite, that is, it will open the door wide to malicious software, which also includes cybercrime.

Whatever the outcome, and we will know it during the summer when the UK parliament makes the final decision, the fact is that even in the West, which likes to boast about various freedoms and rights, they are slowly being abolished. When we throw into the equation the hysteria surrounding fake news and the ways in which they want to suppress it, it is obvious that we are slowly moving toward a new form of censorship. It will certainly be interesting to see if the EU countries will also follow this policy, and if this happens, we will not be too surprised.