WhatsApp is right to be angry about the UK’s encryption mess

The world’s biggest tech firms have lined up to lambast the latest incarnation of the Online Safety Bill and Investigatory Powers Act. Many, including Apple and Meta, are threatening to withdraw products and services from the UK if the proposed rules become law. The Home Office could become the ‘de facto global arbiter of what level of data security and encryption are permissible’, Apple says. They have a point.

The government wants to force companies to scan the content of its users’ encrypted messages for harmful content, as well as getting advanced notice to approve any future software updates that are security related. The aim – a noble one – is to ensure that bad actors don’t use encryption to get access to illegal content, in particular, the sharing of child sexual abuse material.

But all of this belies the original intent of encryption, namely, to guarantee the safety of our online lives. Almost everything we do on the web, from chatting with friends to sharing client data at work, relies on some form of encryption.