Home Secretary Priti Patel is to warn of the dangers of Facebook’s encryption plans at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), according to BBC News. Facebook’s plans to roll out encryption – where only the sender and recipient can read messages – across its messaging services could jeopardise ongoing work to combat child abuse, the Home Secretary is to warn.
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<p>Trying to fight the use of encryption highlights a lack of knowledge and understanding behind the argument. Encryption is used in messaging services to protect its users and combat unlawful surveillance, and should be promoted. Trying to curb such powers will only reduce trust in Facebook’s services and push its userbase onto plenty of other messaging platforms that already offer encryption by default.</p> <p> </p> <p>Law enforcement have long had difficulties in the interception of private messages since encryption became mainstream, but trying to thwart its use – while an understandable reaction – is unfortunately not the right way to go. We need to be raising people’s awareness in privacy and teach them to understand why we need more secure methods of communication. Furthermore, offenders are unlikely to be using unencrypted messaging services in the first place, as there is already an abundance of platforms available, including unregulated chat services.</p>