Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging services are calling on the UK government to reconsider parts of the Online Safety Bill (OSB) that will give it the right to snoop into private chats on their platforms.
Sounds familiar doesn’t it? That’s because governments around the world are hungry for your personal information. Most have opted to use the law to their advantage.
The UK government wants the right to force tech companies to grant it access to messages that are protected by end-to-end encryption. This ensures that messages between people chatting on the platforms are not intercepted by a third party.
WhatsApp with privacy, anyway?
This week WhatsApp, joined by Element, Signal, Session, Threema, Viber, and Wire wrote an open letter noting the consequences of parts of the Online Safety Bill which is expected to affect the law on end-to-end encryption. Meta’s platform says the law could infringe on the human right to privacy.
“ The law could give an unelected official the power to weaken the privacy of billions of people around the world.”
Th app said that part of the law is “misguided” and can potentially lessen the safety of users around the world.
“As end-to-end-encrypted communication services, we urge the UK Government to address the risks that the Online Safety Bill poses to everyone’s privacy and safety.”
Read More: Meta planning end-to-end encryption for Messenger group chats
Outside of the private, personal conversations between lovers, friends, and family, WhatsApp says the law will expose the messaging platforms’ users’ to scams, online fraud, and data theft.
“As currently drafted, the Bill could break end-to-end encryption, opening the door to routine, general and indiscriminate surveillance of personal messages of friends, family members, employees, executives, journalists, human rights activists, and even politicians themselves.”
Should the Bill become law in the UK, this implication will be felt by tech users around the world simply because those living in the UK also communicate with people outside the country.
Source: WhatsApp Blog