The UK government spyware demand means that the government decides exactly what should be censored on every mobile device. They say they will start with nude pictures (if you don’t identify yourself as an adult). But it could at any time be expanded to anything the government disapproves of. Today, 30 people are arrested every day in the United Kingdom for writing something online that the government classifies as "grossly offensive". It is obvious that they will use this tool to restrict free speech.
Currently, there appears to be no requirement to report findings outside the device. However, with both legal and technological decision-making power taken away from individuals and transferred to the government, that is only a pen stroke away.
This means that the government could also use this system for total mass surveillance.
And they can do so in secret.
The government recently, in secret, tried to pressure Apple (which is now agreeing to client-side scanning) to build backdoors into its end-to-end encrypted cloud service. They can do this under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, also known as the "Snoopers' Charter" – a law that makes it illegal for tech companies to disclose secret demands from the government.
This is not the first time.
2023: UK passes the Online Safety Bill. Signal threatens to leave. Meta threatens to pull WhatsApp. the government backs down.
2026: same government, new prime minister, same bill, different name. Keir Starmer gives Apple and Google 3 months to scan every device in the country or face criminal charges against their executives.
Signal's president Meredith Whittaker, on the BBC, yesterday:
"we would absolutely 100% walk rather than ever undermine the trust that people place in us."
not a maybe. 100%.
UK government ministers use Signal.
civil servants use Signal.
law enforcement officers use Signal.
the people writing the law that would break encryption use the app whose encryption they are trying to break. for their own sensitive communications.
they want a backdoor in your Signal.
not theirs.
and one more thing. this doesn't stay in the UK. Australia already has encryption-weakening laws. the EU has been debating the same measures. the Five Eyes alliance has pushed for backdoors for years. France tried it last year. Sweden is next.
every country watching this fight will use the outcome to justify their own demands.
what happens in London doesn't stay in London.
BREAKING: The UK is drafting a law to scan every photo, video and message on every phone in the country.
Tech CEOs who refuse to implement this could face up to 5 years in prison.
The proposal would force companies to build device level scanners that inspect content before encryption.
That means:
• Every image scanned
• Every message inspected
• Every video analyzed
All directly on your phone.
Governments and companies pushing these safety” systems already have a terrible track record protecting user data.
Last month, Europe’s new age verification app, promoted as a way to "keep children safe," was hacked in under 2 minutes.
In another case, over 70,000 IDs and selfies linked to online verification systems were exposed in a major breach.
Now the UK wants even deeper access directly inside your device.
Once governments force surveillance tools into every phone, they can expand what gets monitored at any time.
Energy Minister shanks hails Scots having to clean up after a French-owned nuclear power station where some of the remaining radioactive isotopes in the soil will lest in excess of 13 billion years and which caused the highest cancer level in Europe https://t.co/bvK8WSXZEP
After the proof of this week, can we all just admit it's racism.
The filth in Belfast are racist cunts.
Nigel Farage justifying them is a racist cunt.
Reform voters voting for him are racist cunts.
Stop. Pretending. Otherwise.
Know your enemy.