#UK#OSB#Cybersecurity#Encryption#Censorship#ContentModeration#Surveillance#Privacy: "The UK has now endured 10 long years of debate and deliberation on the topic of internet regulation. For proponents of new online “safety” laws, this has been as painful as it has for those deeply concerned about the potential impact on civil liberties. What began with a speech by David Cameron in 2013 on cleansing the internet of “disgusting material” online, led to an “Internet Safety Strategy green paper” in 2017, which developed into an “Online Harms White Paper” in 2019, a draft Online Safety Bill in 2021 and then a full and final Online Safety Bill in 2022. The Bill, soon to be an Act of Parliament, has only just completed its passage through both the House of Commons and House of Lords after being carried through multiple Parliamentary sessions and at least one major revision.
A debate which began focused squarely on the protection of children online morphed into something much broader, culminating in a piece of legislation that would ultimately regulate the speech of everyone online. The final product is a regulatory framework, overseen by broadcast regulator Ofcom, which will increase liability on online platforms, shifting culpability to these platforms for the online expression of individuals, rather than the users themselves (...)
This blog signposts the key areas of the Bill that threaten our rights and liberties. Despite the best efforts of campaigners across a multitude of groups, who were able to scale back the ill-informed concept of “harmful” speech to adults, the civil liberties red flags are many and must be monitored closely when the regulatory framework formally kicks in the coming months."
#Cybersecurity#Encryption#Privacy#CSAM#UK#OSB: "Think differently. Think long term. Think about protecting the privacy and security of all members of society—children and adults alike. By failing to consider the big picture, the U.K. Online Safety Act has taken a dangerous, short-term approach to a complex societal problem. The EU and U.S. have the chance to avoid the U.K.’s folly; they should do so. The EU proposal and the U.S. bills are not sensible ways to approach the public policy concerns of online abetting of CSAE. Nor are these reasonable approaches in view of the cyber threats our society faces. The bills should be abandoned, and we should pursue other ways of protecting both children and adults."
Aus dem #OSB haben wir gelernt, dass diese Versprechen von nicht vorhandener Technologie ein leeres ist. Wenn das Gesetz durchgewunken wird wird dann Thorn aus dem Hut gezaubert. Alle Experten werden natürlich irgnoriert.
#UK#OSB#Surveillance#Encryption#Privacy#Signal#Messaging: "“We’re not about political stunts, so we’re not going to just pick up our toys and go home to, like, show the bad U.K. they’re being mean,” she said. “We’re really worried about people in the U.K. who would live under a surveillance regime like the one that seems to be teased by the Home Office and others in the U.K.”
Whittaker noted that Signal takes a number of steps to ensure its users remain anonymous regardless of the laws and regulations in their particular country. Asked onstage what data Signal’s handed over in the instances that it’s received search warrants, Whittaker said that it’s been limited to the phone number registered to a Signal account and the last time a user accessed their account."
Today the UK parliament passed the OSB, which requires companies to build back-doors into their software, and puts an stop to end-to-end encryption. Privacy is dead in the UK. Censorship and Age-gating are now the law of the land
The received cultural mythology of 9/11 is so far from my actual lived experience of being an adult New Yorker on that day that it breaks my brain (and my heart) to even try to reconcile the two. For those who are younger, question nearly all of the political framing you hear about that day. All these years later, it’s clear Bin Laden got nearly all he wanted, thanks to the predictability of American reactionaries.
#UK#OSB#Surveillance#Encryption#Privacy#DataProtection: "Let’s be clear: weak statements by government ministers, such as the hedging from Lord Parkinson during this week’s debate, are no substitute for real privacy rights.
Nothing in the law’s text has changed. The OSB gives the U.K. government the right to order message and photo-scanning, and that will harm the privacy and security of internet users worldwide. These powers, enshrined in Clause 122 of the OSB, are now set to become law. After that, the regulator in charge of enforcing the law, Ofcom, will have to devise and publish a set of regulations regarding how the law will be enforced.
Several companies that provide end-to-end encrypted services have said they will withdraw from the U.K. if Ofcom actually takes the extreme choice of requiring examination of currently encrypted messages. Those companies include Meta-owned WhatsApp, Signal, and U.K.-based Element, among others.
While it’s the last minute, Members of Parliament still could introduce an amendment with real protections for user privacy, including an explicit protection for real end-to-end encryption."
Britain admits defeat in its controversial fight to break encryption.
Tech companies and privacy activists are claiming victory after an eleventh-hour concession by the British government.
The UK government has admitted that the technology needed to securely scan encrypted messages sent on Signal and WhatsApp doesn’t exist, weakening its controversial Online Safety Bill.
#UK#OSB#Cybersecurity#Encryption#Privacy#Surveillance: "Although the UK government has said that it now won’t force unproven technology on tech companies, and that it essentially won’t use the powers under the bill, the controversial clauses remain within the legislation, which is still likely to pass into law. “It’s not gone away, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Woodward says.
James Baker, campaign manager for the Open Rights Group, a nonprofit that has campaigned against the law’s passage, says that the continued existence of the powers within the law means encryption-breaking surveillance could still be introduced in the future. “It would be better if these powers were completely removed from the bill,” he adds.
But some are less positive about the apparent volte-face. “Nothing has changed,” says Matthew Hodgson, CEO of UK-based Element, which supplies end-to-end encrypted messaging to militaries and governments. “It’s only what’s actually written in the bill that matters. Scanning is fundamentally incompatible with end-to-end encrypted messaging apps. Scanning bypasses the encryption in order to scan, exposing your messages to attackers. So all ‘until it’s technically feasible’ means is opening the door to scanning in future rather than scanning today. It’s not a change, it’s kicking the can down the road.”"
The UK is poised to force a bad law on the Internet.
WhatsApp and Signal have threatened to shut down services in Britain if the Online Safety Bill includes restrictions that undermine encryption. The government is pushing it through anyway.
#UK#OSB#Encryption#Surveillance#Cybersecurity: "It’s a 21st-century form of prior restraint, violating the very essence of free speech. It’s a death knell for end-to-end encryption, and with it, every internet user’s right to privacy.
Private communication is a fundamental human right, and in the online world, the best tool we have to defend this right is end-to-end encryption. It ensures that governments, tech companies, social media platforms, and other groups cannot view or access our private messages, the pictures we share with family and friends, or our bank account details. This is a particularly vital protection for the most vulnerable in society, such as children seeking relief from abuse or human rights defenders working in hostile environments."
Wenngleich sich bestimmt fernöstliche Tech-Lieferanten finden, die das mitmachen, da es im Einklang mit den Werten von deren Heimatdomizilen ist.
Vielleicht möchte sich das Vereinigte Königreich auch direkt #BRICS+ anschließen. Damit hätte es dann einen zukünftigen Wirtschaftsraum und den passenden Wertekanon in einem Rutsch.
#UK#OSB#Encryption#Cybersecurity#messaging : "The main criticism of the legislation to date has been on freedom of expression grounds. Critics have said it will have a chilling effect, encouraging tech giants to ban users who might get the platforms into trouble with the regulators. Now the companies are warning that the bill has a national security implication too.
Ukraine often uses messaging services to communicate securely with its allies, including the UK. The British armed forces and their allies also use services such as Signal alongside military communications systems. Do ministers really want to weaken western security? Have they thought this through?
If Signal and WhatsApp cannot be used on British-registered phones, anyone who needs access will presumably have to ship in a second, secure device from the US."
Their "tipping point" is UK regulation - and it's coming at them thick and fast.
The Online Safety Bill is due to pass in the autumn. Aimed at protecting children, it lays down strict rules around policing social media content, with high financial penalties and prison time for individual tech execs if the firms fail to comply.
One clause that has proved particularly controversial is a proposal that encrypted messages, which includes those sent on WhatsApp, can be read and handed over to law enforcement by the platforms they are sent on, if there is deemed to be a national security or child protection risk.
The NSPCC children's charity has described encrypted messaging apps as the "front line" of where child abuse images are shared, but it is also seen as an essential security tool for activists, journalists and politicians."
#UK#OSB#OnlineSafetyBill#Cybersecurity#Privacy#Encruyption#Surveillance: "The U.K. Parliament is pushing ahead with a sprawling internet regulation bill that will, among other things, undermine the privacy of people around the world. The Online Safety Bill, now at the final stage before passage in the House of Lords, gives the British government the ability to force backdoors into messaging services, which will destroy end-to-end encryption. No amendments have been accepted that would mitigate the bill’s most dangerous elements.
If it passes, the Online Safety Bill will be a huge step backwards for global privacy, and democracy itself. Requiring government-approved software in peoples’ messaging services is an awful precedent. If the Online Safety Bill becomes British law, the damage it causes won’t stop at the borders of the U.K."
Where "amends" means "fiddles around at the edges".
If Apple, Signal, Meta, and other companies remove their communications services from the UK, and many people's private chats are subject to widespread warrantless suspicionless spying, I wonder how many of the bill's avid proponents will quietly drop their papers / work from their CVs and profile pages?
@neil@revk If I read the bill correctly, email is not a regulated service, ever. Full exemption.
Doesn't that seem rather stupid if you are trying to stop bad actors? There are loads of e2ee email services already and will be more as soon as bill passes. They can even advertise as ways to get around #OSB
The UK is a useful idiot for authoritarian regimes.
The Online Safety Bill is set to puncture the security of messaging apps to enable mass surveillance. It’ll give permission for it to be done in other countries.