Privacy Campaigners warn Boris of Home Office’s Dangerous and Orwellian impulses
Responding to Wired’s story that the Home Office is actively exploring legal and technical mechanisms to compel Facebook to circumvent end-to-end encrypted messaging in its platforms and apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, said:
“The Prime Minister is famed for his self-defined political identity as a “freedom-seeking libertarian”. We urge him to stay true to his libertarian instincts and resist the Orwellian and frankly dangerous impulses of the Home Office and some of his colleagues to snoop on our private messages.
“These measures are subjecting all our private messages to monitoring and surveillance on the assumption that we are all criminals. This will include communications between Members of Parliament and their constituents.
“These measures are likely to reduce personal security, introduce new risks, and create opportunities for criminals and abusers.
“Our Parliamentarians should demand transparency and accountability for any measures that the Home Office is considering. This is 2021, not 1984”
ENDS
Contact
Press 07951265812 / press@openrightsgroup.org
Notes to Editor
- Wired’s story here: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/uk-encryption-facebook-home-office-nspcc
- Read our blog on it here: https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/endgame-for-end-to-end-encryption/