Talking Politics with James Baker

Many of you might have read about the Government’s Online Safety Bill. You would be forgiven for thinking this bill was just about harmful content being posted online.

However under a recent amendment to the bill, they will have to scan our personal phone messages for government-specified forms of illegal content using Home Office-approved systems.

It is a deeply intrusive form of surveillance that will compromise the end-to-end encryption that currently keeps our chats confidential and secure. The template is one that governments in non-democratic countries could copy for political surveillance.

Over 40 million people in the UK use WhatsApp, like other messaging providers such as Signal and Telegram the service enables people to send these end-to-end private and secure messages.

The ability for us to communicate privately with other people is an essential cornerstone of British society. Whether you are communicating about financial matters, sharing pictures of your child with your family, or sending intimate messages to your partner - you only want the intended recipient to be able to read your messages.

The need for personal privacy is especially sensitive for victims of stalkers or domestic violence. Such individuals have a heightened need to protect their personal information from falling into the wrong hands.

Globally the ability to send end-to-end encrypted private message can be a matter of life of death. There are people in countries like Iran currently struggling for their freedoms under oppressive regimes. If such regimes can automatically scan these messages, then they can crush political opposition. If the UK Government seeks to break end-to-end encryption it will have global implications.

Even if you personally feel you have ‘nothing to hide’, there are others whose lives are at risk from having their personal privacy compromised.

Proponents of these measures say encryption is dangerous, but the opposite is true. Encryption keeps your information and transactions safe from criminals.

It ensures your private messages stay private. If the UK Government can break encryption to read your messages, that means scammers, hackers and foreign governments can too.

If proponents of these measures get their way, your phone will be turned into a spy in your pocket. Billions of personal messages will be ready to be hacked, sold and exploited. The Government’s plan to access your private messages will help criminals and make us less safe.

Both our local MPs will shortly be voting on these measures when the bill comes back to Parliament. I would urge you to please write to them and ask them to ensure the automatic scanning and monitoring of our private messages is removed from the bill.

If these measures go ahead WhatsApp have already stated they could remove the service from the UK rather than break their products privacy. Your very ability to easily message people is at stake.