Access to private messages supported by Education Secretary to curb online child abuse

Controversial elements of the Online Safety Bill have been defended by Education Secretary, Michelle Donelan MP.

The Bill, due to be passed in September, would force private messaging apps to allow the regulator Ofcom access to encrypted messages, when requested.

Michelle Donelan MP has said it would be a helpful approach in order to protect children from abuse online.

Some tech companies – such as WhatsApp and Signal – have said they disagree with the implementation as it would weaken their safety measures and have threatened to remove their services from the UK.

Currently, messages can only be accessed by the sender and recipient. The cyber security community have expressed nervousness that once you open the gates to allow a way into private messages it could be misused.

Donelan argues that the Government are not against anti-encryption, and that request for access would be a last resort in cases.

She said: “I, like you, want my privacy because I don't want people reading my private messages. They'd be very bored but I don't want them to do it," she said.

"However we do know that on some of these platforms, they are hotbeds sometimes for child abuse and sexual exploitation.

"And we have to be able to access that information should that problem occur."

Further to the comments from the Education Secretary, the children’s charity NSPCC say its research shows that there is “overwhelming support” from the public in efforts to tackle child abuse in encrypted platforms.

Richard Collard, the Head of Child Safety Online Policy said: "Tech firms should be showing industry leadership by listening to the public and investing in technology that protects both the safety and privacy rights of all users.”

The best technology in this area is Client Side Scanning, which once installed on a device, will scan content and send an alert if triggered by anything. However, Apple halted a trial of this software after claims that it was “the spy in your pocket”.

Ryan Polk, Director of Internet Policy at the Internet Society, and come forward to say that he is sceptical that any technology of this type would be ready – and that it would not be fit for purpose.

According to Polk these technologies “undermine the end-to-end security and privacy necessary for protecting the security and privacy of UK citizens.

“If the Government can’t see that the Online Safety Bill will in effect ban encryption, then they are willfully blinding themselves to the dangers ahead.”