Experts Condemn The UK Online Safety Bill As Harmful To Privacy And Encryption
The UK Online Safety Bill is a deeply flawed censorship proposal that would allow UK residents to be thrown in jail for what they say online.
It would also force online service providers to use government-approved software to search for user content that is deemed to be related to terrorism or child abuse. In the process, it will undermine our right to have a private conversation, and the technologies that protect that right, like end-to-end encryption.
“Undermining protections for end-to-end encryption would make UK businesses and individuals less safe online, including the very groups that the Online Safety Bill intends to protect. Furthermore, because the right to privacy and freedom of expression are intertwined, these proposals would undermine freedom of speech, a key characteristic of free societies that differentiate the UK from aggressors that use oppression and coercion to achieve their aims.” dozens of security researchers and human rights groups wrote in a public letter to send a clear message to incoming U.K. prime minister Rishi Sunak.
