Internet firms to be banned from offering unbreakable encryption under new laws

[Reefa]

Companies such as Apple, Google and others will no longer be able to offer encryption so advanced that even they cannot decipher it when asked to under the Investigatory Powers Bill

Internet and social media companies will be banned from putting customer communications beyond their own reach under new laws to be unveiled on Wednesday.

Companies such as Apple, Google and others will no longer be able to offer encryption so advanced that even they cannot decipher it when asked to, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Measures in the Investigatory Powers Bill will place in law a requirement on tech firms and service providers to be able to provide unencrypted communications to the police or spy agencies if requested through a warrant.

The move follows concerns that a growing number of encryption services are now completely inaccessible apart from to the users themselves.

It came as David Cameron, the Prime Minister, pleaded with the public and MPs to back his raft of new surveillance measures.

He said terrorists, paedophiles and criminals must not be allowed a “safe space” online.

Ministers have no plans to ban encryption services because they have an important role in the protection of legitimate online activity such as banking and personal data.

But there is concern over some aspects of so-called end-to-end encryption where only the sender and recipient of messages can decipher them.

Terrorists and criminals are increasingly using such technology to communicate beyond the reach of MI5 or the police.

On its website, Apple promotes the fact that it has, for example, “no way to decrypt iMessage and FaceTime data when it’s in transit between devices”.

It adds: “So unlike other companies’ messaging services, Apple doesn’t scan your communications, and we wouldn’t be able to comply with a wiretap order even if we wanted to.”

Last month, Metropolitan assistant commissioner Mark Rowley, the country’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, warned that for some firms it was “a part of their strategy - they design their products in full recognition that they will be unable to help us because of the way they have designed them”.

However, proposals to be published on Wednesday will, for the first time, place a duty on companies to be able to access their customer data in law.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The Government is clear we need to find a way to work with industry as technology develops to ensure that, with clear oversight and a robust legal framework, the police and intelligence agencies can access the content of communications of terrorists and criminals in order to resolve police investigations and prevent criminal acts.

“That means ensuring that companies themselves can access the content of communications on their networks when presented with a warrant, as many of them already do for their own business purposes, for example to target advertising.

These companies’ reputations rest on their ability to protect their users’ data.”

The Investigatory Powers Bill is also expected to maintain the current responsibility for signing off requests to snoop with the Home Secretary but with extra judicial oversight – a move that is likely to anger civil liberty campaigners and some Tory backbenchers.

It will also require internet companies to retain the web browsing history of their customers for up to a year.

The bill is expected to face a tough route through parliament but Mr Cameron urged critics to back the measures.

He told ITV’s This Morning: “As Prime Minister I would just say to people 'please, let's not have a situation where we give terrorists, criminals, child abductors, safe spaces to communicate'.

"It's not a safe space for them to communicate on a fixed line telephone or a mobile phone, we shouldn't allow the internet to be a safe space for them to communicate and do bad things."

Lord Carlile, the former terrorism laws watchdog, said there had been a “lot of demonization” of the police and security services over their intentions for such information.

“I think it is absurd to suggest the police and the security services have a kind of casual desire to intrude on the privacy of the innocent,” he said.

“They have enough difficulty finding the guilty. No-one has produced any evidence of casual curiosity on part of the security services."

telegraph.co.uk

[jamesDDI]

what an awful world :footinmouth:

[straycat19]

I knew we shouldn't have helped the British during WWII, they would be better off as a German possession. Bloody blokes have their bloody heads up their bloody arses.

[masterupc]

What a bunch of lazy bums. If they want to find criminals, terrorists or whaterver, how about doing their job the old way? Investigating on the field.

For them everyone is a suspicious criminal so they need a way to crack our privacy and their job would be easier... WTF!

[CODYQX4]

I knew we shouldn't have helped the British during WWII, they would be better off as a German possession. Bloody blokes have their bloody heads up their bloody arses.

Sadly our government is just as demented. Idiots want a master key "with no backdoors" that's "100% secure". Yet they did that with TSA locks and some oxygen thief posted their TSA master keychain to Twitter for all criminals to hastily make keys out of. "But it's for your own safety we know better..."

The whole damn world is heading in the same direction, universally bad for their citizens, death of privacy protections, stamping out of rights. There's not a single nation improving privacy rights. EU (and Russia I guess) only pass laws against US, say to keep all data over there. Meanwhile they push all their Data Retention crap, even in places like Germany that used to have the most pro-privacy laws. Coincidence? I think not. They want to be the sole government(s) spying on their citizens. They're bothering to pretend less and less, why else would they not even let us read TPP crap that was a gift to corporations and not one good thing for the citizens?

Every single nation's government on this Earth is becoming even more morally and financially bankrupt by the hour. They've all been bought and sold and they do not work for our interests.

[Enigmatism]

Alex Jones was right...

[Holmes]

This bill can kiss my arse. We need to appeal or petition veto that bill government dont know as much as there supposed to know and to compensate they interfere with our privacy government is beetleheaded thats a synonym for stupid (nothing to lose movie quote I know lawls) if I could talk to the creater of the bill I would say f*ck you and your couch lawls.