If you have followed technology news for a while, you will have heard of the Online Safety Bill in the UK. This bill, framed as “a new set of laws to protect children and adults online,” will make “social media companies more responsible” for what we see via their platforms.
It truly is astonishing that anyone allows such inaccurate articles to be published. Or maybe not. Nobody I work with is calling for encryption to be weakened, diluted or forbidden. Certain kinds of content can be forensically identified as containing threats to children before that content enters the encrypted space. That being so it can be eliminated before it does or continues the harm. So some people now want to move the goal posts and say the protection of E2EE applies to stuff that isn't, er, encrypted. Transparency and auditability will provide us with key safeguards against any potential abuse, which is why Apple's aolution was so widely welcomed. Apple has not resiled from it or said it was technically flawed in any way whatsoever, but they have given in to bullying. Shame on them.
Fact Check: the UK and its Online Safety Bill
It truly is astonishing that anyone allows such inaccurate articles to be published. Or maybe not. Nobody I work with is calling for encryption to be weakened, diluted or forbidden. Certain kinds of content can be forensically identified as containing threats to children before that content enters the encrypted space. That being so it can be eliminated before it does or continues the harm. So some people now want to move the goal posts and say the protection of E2EE applies to stuff that isn't, er, encrypted. Transparency and auditability will provide us with key safeguards against any potential abuse, which is why Apple's aolution was so widely welcomed. Apple has not resiled from it or said it was technically flawed in any way whatsoever, but they have given in to bullying. Shame on them.