Giving big tech access to E2E encrypted messages will give consumers a false sense of security while still selling their data. This has been discussed in the whole chrome incognito article (link). I cannot imagine a world in which big tech won’t use this data to try to sell more. Big tech will always be a business and a business’s goal is to make money in anyway possible. Governments on the other hand can use this to fight crime and stop abusers… but we would need to trust the government to do this appropriately and safely… me as an American have been fooled by this one too many times to trust the government to act appropriately with this data.
Conversely, why not if they can track my online activity, social media presence, shopping and voting habits. I mean they listen to conversations I'm having to make recommendations for ads so why not read my email too? Shit, they probably have enough information to just guess what's there based off like 7 pieces of data. Or maybe they agree they won't but you'll use a browser that'll read it as you do.
That said if you're not paying for your email or anything else, you're the product and arguably letting businesses read your email is the tradeoff, which is crazy that we ever collectively agreed to that for so long.
Of the 1,723 adults surveyed across the UK, 73% said technology companies should, by law, have to scan private messaging for child sexual abuse and disrupt it in end-to-end encrypted environments.
The exact question I believe is being referred to was:
And do you think technology companies should or should not be required by law to use accredited technology to identify child sexual abuse in end-to-end encrypted messaging apps?
This seems like a really bad question, since it implies a coexistence of end to end encryption and big tech companies being able to read people’s messages, which doesn’t really make sense (or at least requires more clarification on what that would mean). The question as it is is basically “do you think child sexual abuse is bad”.
The answer is still no. They always say it is meant to protect children but they will stuff in loopholes to let them do whatever they want, then people in positions of power will still fuck kids and get away with it as long as they don’t incriminate other people in even higher positions by being alive.
This is such a common way to attack people pushing for privacy by indirectly calling them pedophiles or pedophile supporters. But what about, for example, gay people living in a country where gay people are not accepted, treated violently, or even killed. Just a simple message could out someone and put them in danger. I have a friend that went home to Russia maybe about a decade ago and was using encrypted messaging in his communications to get him and his lover out. Now with Putin having his post-midlife crisis and dragging in everyone else it’s even shittier for the little guy just trying to survive in a place where he can’t trust anyone. I’m sure there are plenty of other equally important examples but there are a lot of people in my family and friends that are LGBT.
If it came down to a vote on a politician I would favour fixing foster care and adoption over ‘preventing child sexual abuse’ since most of the individuals using that as part of their platform seem wholly untrustworthy buzzword abusers or even projecting and are the problem rather than the solution. I can’t think of any names off the top of my head but recall someone putting up a list of confirmed offenders in a discussion about how in America the republicans often call the democrats pedophiles but there is apparently a disappointing amount on both sides with a loooot on the side making the accusation.
Also if tech companies(who do they even refer to) can scan so called encrypted messages, there is literally nothing stopping them from scanning or just saving whatever they want. The question is just flawed to begin with even before the part where they coerce the answer they want using fear of being labelled as a pedophile.
Add comment