Thenew UK legislationis attempting yet another impossible end-run around encryption.
And that’s not even the worst part.
UK’s Legislation Would Break Encryption
Encryption is pretty straightforward.
TU IS / Getty Images
Something is either encrypted or it isn’t.
But that’s flat-out impossible.
If the encryption is weakened to allow snooping, then it is weakenedfull stopand therefore useless.
Thanmano / Getty Images
Further, encryption isn’t just for messaging apps.
Eventhe United Nations is against it.
One clause in the new legislation would require the same thing, only for your messages.
Imagine that a law was passed to force all prepared foods to contain meat.
What would vegan and vegetarian food makers do in this situation?
They’d have to shut down or pull out of the country.
Like Signal and WhatsApp, they could not comply without completely changing their business model.
The UK represents a small fraction of any one platform’s user base.
And that’s the risk.
