UK says ‘no’ to backdoors, but the government isn’t listening
It doesn’t matter what the UK government says, the majority of the UK public is reluctant to hand over additional surveillance powers that require tech companies to build backdoors to access encrypted communications. That’s based on a poll release Thursday by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a US-based advocacy group. UK officials still want to wreck encryption The poll comes as the…
The UK government's push for backdoors in encryption has hit a wall with the majority of UK citizens, according to a poll released by the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). Despite the government's attempts to force tech companies like Apple to build backdoors into encrypted communications, the public is vehemently opposed.
The poll found that only 12% of respondents agreed with the government's efforts to quash encryption, with 87% believing the government should be legally required to inform citizens when their private conversations are reviewed. The government's approach to this issue has been criticized for its secrecy, with the Technical Capability Notice sent to Apple preventing the company from disclosing the order while also keeping the public largely unaware.
Privacy experts argue that any backdoors weaken encryption for everyone, posing risks to free speech, personal privacy, and overall security. The poll underscores the widespread belief among the British public that private conversations should remain protected and that there are better ways to combat serious crimes than through surveillance of encrypted messages.
Written by urgent.news from Computerworld's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
