• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

The End of Online Privacy

by Will Jones
13 May 2023 9:00 AM

Privacy – one of the most fundamental rights in any free society – is under threat from the U.K. Government’s Online Safety Bill, which is currently making its way through the House of Lords, writes Conservative MP David Davis in Spiked. The central issue is the undermining of encryption. Here’s an excerpt.

Encryption might sound like a niche technical term, but it lies at the heart of communication in the modern world. Anyone who uses WhatsApp, Signal or similar apps benefits from it. Journalists, whistleblowers and political dissidents all rely on it. And so does our financial system. Without encryption, transactions and trades would be incredibly vulnerable.

What’s more, our national security depends on encryption. It allows the sharing of sensitive military and intelligence information. The dangers of having lax privacy protections have been laid bare in numerous scandals in the past couple of decades, most recently the leak of Pentagon documents about the war in Ukraine.

Despite this, the Government wants to weaken our privacy protections. Its stated justification is that it wants to tackle child abuse online. That is a noble aim, but the bill would mean companies will have to find ways to stop users encountering harmful content in private messages. That is a problem, because it will probably force those companies to check all private messages on their platforms.

What’s worse, the bill will allow Ofcom, the communications regulator, to compel companies to use “accredited technology” to check private messages. And most of the technologies that have been approved so far are seen by experts as incompatible with encryption.

The likes of WhatsApp are gravely concerned about all this. In the past few weeks, WhatsApp joined many of its competitors in signing an open letter calling on the government to change track. The bill “could break end-to-end encryption”, the letter said, “opening the door to routine, general and indiscriminate surveillance of personal messages”. The largest providers are threatening to leave the U.K. market if they are forced to dump end-to-end encryption.

The bill, then, will make Britain unattractive for digital businesses, at the same time as putting us at risk of greater exposure to fraudsters and hackers. And most worryingly of all, it will lay the ground for one of the most serious infringements of our right to privacy in modern times. It may end up meaning there are no ways to have a truly private conversation without fear of the Government or Big Tech sticking their noses in. That is clearly a free-speech issue. As Index on Censorship has put it, “promoting and defending encryption is essential for any organisation that promotes and defends free speech”.

When governments seek to curtail privacy, they usually say it is necessary for people’s safety. In that sense, this power-grab by the Government fits the usual trend. It also means that this is likely just the beginning of a wider erosion of privacy rights online. When the Government finds out that, despite its best efforts, it cannot completely purge child abuse content from the internet, it will inevitably demand tougher, more invasive measures. And even if it is not the current Government that does this, future Governments may use the bill as a basis on which to demand more general surveillance of private messages.

Davis concludes: “In trying to do the impossible – eliminating risk from the internet – the Government is actually exposing us to far greater risks.”

Worth reading in full.

Tags: EncryptionFree SpeechOnline Safety BillPrivacyWhatsApp Mesages

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

IPCC Admits Many of its Gloomy Climate Forecasts Are of “Low Likelihood”

Next Post

Fresh Blow to Net Zero as British Gas Refuses to Install Heat Pumps in Millions of Homes Because They Don’t Work

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

14 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
varmint
varmint
2 years ago

There is no tyranny worse than the one that hounds you for YOUR OWN GOOD. They NEVER sleep.

103
0
WyrdWoman
WyrdWoman
2 years ago

How does the weakening of encryption for the purposes of increased surveillance safety square with the inexorable push to force us to use CBDC which – theoretically – would require more than currently available to control protect all those additional digital payments? Or is the answer self-evident?

47
0
Nearhorburian
Nearhorburian
2 years ago

If you believe this is about protecting children you’re probably desperate for your next booster.

149
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

Ah yes, protecting children. They haven’t managed that so far with grooming gangs rife in this country:

Manchester – the sainted Maggie Oliver lifted the lid.

Oldham – OMBC and Fuerher Burnham still refusing a proper inquiry.

Rochdale – still problems after a few token convictions.

Rotherham – ongoing.

Norwich, Bristol and most Northern towns.

And now we have the sexualisation of children in schools with bloody Queer Hour and Drag Queens and masturbation for four year olds. So obviously The Online Safety Bill is designed to protect children. A more direct lie could not be invented.

David Davies has at least raised his voice but it is too little too late. This crap has been in the planning for years.

The real fightback should have kicked in to gear March 20th 1920 but the cowards in Westminster rolled over and each month privacies and freedoms have been stolen and nothing said bar a lot of lies.

“To protect the children.”

Oh do firk off!

113
0
Dr G
Dr G
2 years ago
Reply to  huxleypiggles

My thoughts exactly.
Contrast the purported concerns about protecting the children with the recent article concerning the teacher sacked for not using the “correct pronouns” for an 8 year old who thinks they are in the wrong body!

66
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  Dr G

Spot on Dr.

8
0
stewart
stewart
2 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

Steve Martin said it all many years ago in this famous skit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uVUSBi3u0E

13
0
Less government
Less government
2 years ago
Reply to  Nearhorburian

In fact they can’t wait to inject our children with another lethal shot…

4
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago

Good for him for saying so but you wonder how he can continue to be a member of the Conservative party.

46
-1
Smudger
Smudger
2 years ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Davis and a few others such as Redwood and Baker appear to play a strategic role in playing to centre Right voter base but are party loyalists to the top of their boots.
This theatrical group have not changed the Leftwards drift of the party for thirty years. Fake Tories like the rest of them

0
0
transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
2 years ago
Reply to  Smudger

Redwood apparently claimed to TCW that he voted against all the lockdown measures. Not true. He was late to the party. I think only Swayne voted NO in all of them. Hard to credit anyone who stays in that party and claims to be conservative with any credibility.

2
0
psychedelia smith
psychedelia smith
2 years ago

Page 1, section A of How To Start A Dictatorship. Invoke the safety of The Children.

71
0
Jabba the Hut
Jabba the Hut
2 years ago

The government concerned about online child abuse they are taking the p**s.

Covid psyop and fear mongering
Climate emergancy fear porn
Forced to wear face masks
School closures
Toxic gene therapies
Sex education/gender realignment

Add to the list as you see fit.

The online safety bills are happening across the globe these are top down instructions coming from the WEF. They don’t give 2 s**ts about children.

63
0
huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
2 years ago
Reply to  Jabba the Hut

100%👍👍👍

14
0

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

Episode 36 of the Sceptic: Karl Williams on Starmer’s Phoney Immigration Crackdown, Dan Hitchens on the Assisted Suicide Bill and Tom Jones on Reform’s Local Council Challenge

by Richard Eldred
16 May 2025
0

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Chinese ‘Kill Switches’ Found in US Solar Farms

15 May 2025
by Will Jones

News Round-Up

16 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

Ten Things George Soros is Funding in the UK

15 May 2025
by Charlotte Gill

Chris Packham is the New St Francis of Assisi

15 May 2025
by Sallust

Renaud Camus on the Destruction of Western Education

15 May 2025
by Dr Nicholas Tate

Chris Packham is the New St Francis of Assisi

36

‘Trans Toddlers’ Allowed Gender Treatment on NHS

36

Chinese ‘Kill Switches’ Found in US Solar Farms

23

News Round-Up

14

Renaud Camus on the Destruction of Western Education

10

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

16 May 2025
by Eugyppius

The Folly of Solar – a Dot on the Horizon Versus a Blight on the Land

16 May 2025
by Ben Pile

Renaud Camus on the Destruction of Western Education

15 May 2025
by Dr Nicholas Tate

‘Why Can’t We Talk About This?’

15 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

Daily Mail Misses the Real Story About Long-Term Stable Antarctica Ice in Dumb Quip About Climate ‘Deniers’

15 May 2025
by Chris Morrison

POSTS BY DATE

May 2023
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Apr   Jun »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences