Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation and Conservative MP Damian Collins debate the UK's 'Online Safety Bill'.
Collins says that if a platform (ie. Signal or Whatsapp) has a Terms Of Service that prohibits illegal uses such as child porn, then that platform should also have a means to enforce those terms. This seems reasonable, but the question is, HOW would that enforcement happen on an encrypted, privacy-first platform?
Whittaker argues that the Online Safety Bill would enable ‘unprecedented paradigm-shifting surveillance’ and you cannot create a backdoor that only the ‘good guys’ (ie. police) can walk through. She asserts that the default for human communication should be 'privacy first' – and I wholeheartedly agree.
For reference, here is the current UK bill and one concerning excerpt...
99 – Offences in connection with information notices (4) A person commits an offence if, in response to an information notice, the person— (a) provides information which is encrypted such that it is not possible for OFCOM to understand it, or produces a document which is encrypted such that it is not possible for OFCOM to understand the information it contains, and (b) the person’s intention was to prevent OFCOM from understanding such information.
This debate prompted me to think, what are some examples of non-digital realms where privacy is widely accepted as the default / norm? And how far are these businesses/industries expected to go in the name of law enforcement?
For example:
• Hotels - people would freak out to learn that the government has passed a law requiring hotels to bug all of their rooms.
• Courier services - should the government open everyone's mail?
• others?
Obviously if law enforcement has evidence that crimes are being committed they can get a warrant from a judge and enter, but is the business required to pro-actively spy on customers?
Would it even help to draw parallels with more traditional business? Maybe there aren't any true 1 to 1 precedents here – which is why the debate rages on. Any legal experts on SN?