Proposed UK act will force all companies to incorporate backdoors into their end-to-end encrypted products

[Balde]

Once again the UK government wants to increase it's snooping powers into our everyday lives. Not to be outdone by the FBI, the UK government is attempting to force all major messengers to add backdoors to most major messengers.

Quote

The Government said that it had re-written the law to respond to concerns about the weakening of encryption, and that it would no longer force them to weaken encryption. It will only force companies to weaken security that they themselves applied, for instance.

But the new law could still force companies to install backdoors in their security, undermining the technology used in many of the most popular chat apps.

The new policy is buried within a draft code of practice document

"[Companies] subject to a technical capability notice must notify the Government of new products and services in advance of their launch, in order to allow consideration of whether it is necessary and proportionate to require the [company] to provide a technical capability on the new service," the policy document reads.

 

Sources:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/uk-spy-bill-will-force-tech-firms-to-disclose-future-products-before-launch/

http://www.zdnet.com/article/new-uk-spying-bill-forces-apple-google-to-decrypt-phones-tablets/

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/uk-spying-laws-uk-government-introduces-law-requiring-whatsapp-and-imessage-to-be-broken-a6905106.html

 

Proposed Act:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/504234/Interception_draft_code_of_practice.PDF

[ShadowCaptain]

uh oh

[ThinkWithPortals]

Right, I'm out of this country. Goodbye.

[spellmanuk]

i guess my plan to move to Japan will have to be accelerated then

[KE2012]

And it will get through because us brits are god awful at protesting things. 

[mikat]

rip in pieces...

atleast i live in the netherlands... oh wait i think we have a law which allows the government to look into the data from the amsterdam datacenters..

fuck governments man...

[Sauron]

Fortunately, open source is a thing.

[spellmanuk]

also i was gunna read the proposed law that you linked but fuck reading 101 pages of that 

[mikat]

Just now, peej said:

also i was gunna read the proposed law that you linked but fuck reading 101 pages of that 

i'm pretty sure they make laws and ToSs that long on purpose, so you don't read them.

[spellmanuk]

Just now, mikat said:

i'm pretty sure they make laws and ToSs that long on purpose, so you don't read them.

yeah that wouldn't surprise me  tbh i mean only the insane law buffs have the patience to do that 

[beach_boy98]

Get me out of this country. Now Canada looks like a good idea TBH.

[Kobathor]

11 minutes ago, KE2012 said:

And it will get through because us brits are god awful at protesting things. 

Actually, you don't try at all most of the time. Sad, isn't it?

[Hodor]

*the inner Logan intensifies*

[KE2012]

Just now, Kobathor said:

Actually, you don't try at all most of the time. Sad, isn't it?

Yeah. The most pro-active we get is getting up from the sofa to top up our tea while we are watching BBC news droning on about it. 

[Supercian411]

13 minutes ago, KE2012 said:

And it will get through because us brits are god awful at protesting things. 

accept doctors

[dditty]

9 minutes ago, peej said:

yeah that wouldn't surprise me  tbh i mean only the insane law buffs have the patience to do that 

Or the training to actually understand how various laws work. Lots of other industries do this too - they use complicated terms to keep the general public from being aware of what's going on. Like the banking industry for example. 

Sorry to my friends across the pond. This is not good.

[mikat]

32 minutes ago, beach_boy98 said:

Get me out of this country. Now Canada looks like a good idea TBH.

canada looks like an all round good option, only thing is: the canadian rupee

[beach_boy98]

1 minute ago, mikat said:

canada looks like an all round good option, only thing is: the canadian rupee

ah well I guess I'll be rich in candadian money.

[asim1999]

That just proves the widely adopted assumption that we are the 'lapdog; of the USA 

[captain cactus]

One part of me wants this to go into the shredder.

 

The other part of me wants this to go trough only to have every single dirty little government secret becoming exposed and then watch them crumble because of their own fucking stupidity by passing this act.

[Monkey Dust]

49 minutes ago, Kobathor said:

Actually, you don't try at all most of the time. Sad, isn't it?

As a nation we ceased to give a fuck sometime ago. At best we can muster mild indignation, before returning to our TV & alcohol induced stupor. Maybe we're just realistic, they are going to do it whatever we say, as there is another 4 years before we have a chance at voting them out (assuming the EU referendum doesn't cause the Tory party to completely implode). It won't matter so much in 4 years as by that time they'll be proposing something far worse. And we're only one more air travel related terrorist attack way from having to show up to the airport naked, no luggage, so a backdoor in to a few chat apps will seem like no biggie by comparison.

 

We did get a plan for ID cards scrapped, but that was far closer to an election than this is, and we were mostly complaining about the cost, not that we didn't want the UK turning into 1970's East Germany.

[KE2012]

2 minutes ago, Monkey Dust said:

As a nation we ceased to give a fuck sometime ago. At best we can muster mild indignation, before returning to our TV & alcohol induced stupor. Maybe we're just realistic, they are going to do it whatever we say, as there is another 4 years before we have a chance at voting them out (assuming the EU referendum doesn't cause the Tory party to completely implode). It won't matter so much in 4 years as by that time they'll be proposing something far worse. And we're only one more air travel related terrorist attack way from having to show up to the airport naked, no luggage, so a backdoor in to a few chat apps will seem like no biggie by comparison.

 

We did get a plan for ID cards scrapped, but that was far closer to an election than this is, and we were mostly complaining about the cost, not that we didn't want the UK turning into 1970's East Germany.

Ah, alcohol stupor is my favourite past time. But back on topic, last time I went throw heathrow I had to basically go through a body scanner xray machine thingy so yeah, no need to turn up naked as they are already past that.

 

 

 

[Citadelen]

This government is intent on destroying their 2020 chances. Almost everything they've done has blown-up in their faces this term.

[Monkey Dust]

2 minutes ago, Citadelen said:

This government is intent on destroying their 2020 chances. Almost everything they've done has blown-up in their faces this term.

I think they are assuming Jeremy is unelectable, and that those 50-odd Scottish SNP seats will remain so and not return to Labour. It may well not be the case, but it has emboldened them to do whatever tickles their Tory fancy. Of course with only a wafer thin majority and the EU Ref causing a deep divide in the Tory party, call me Dave may well struggle to get anything at all done in the next 4 years anyway.

 

Also, back on topic, every time a terrorist attack happens our politicians say 'we can't let them win, we can't let them change our way of life', and then they go and legislate to change our way of life. But both of the main parties do this, so what can you do? Alas the Monster Raving Loony Party only runs in a handful of constituencies. 

[Citadelen]

4 minutes ago, Monkey Dust said:

 

-snip-

 

Recent events have take their toll on their popularity. I hope this trend continues.