LONDON: David Cameron has signalled that he intends to ban strong encryption putting the British government on a collision course with some of the biggest tech companies in the world.
As reported by Politics.co.uk, the British Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment to tackling strong encryption products in Parliament on Monday in response to a question.
Strong encryption refers to the act of scrambling information in such a way that it cannot be understood by anyone — even law enforcement with a valid warrant, or the software company itself — without the correct key or password.
It’s currently used in some of the most popular tech products in the world, including the iPhone, WhatsApp, and Facebook. But amid heightened terrorism fears, David Cameron is attempting to take action.
Over the last year, encryption has become a hot tech policy issue. Following exiled whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations about mass surveillance online by the NSA and other spy agencies, tech companies have increasingly moved to incorporate strong encryption into their products to protect consumers’ data. And simultaneously, governments and law enforcement officials have upped their rhetoric, warning that proliferation of the tech could help terrorists and criminals evade capture.
