The UK government is trying to update the Investigative Powers Act (IPA) 2016. The new regulation, which requires messaging services to obtain approval from the Ministry of Interior before offering security features to customers, allows the Ministry of Interior to request the disabling of security features without notifying the public. As part of the update, this will be required immediately.
However, many messaging services currently offer end-to-end encryption. This means that messages can only be decrypted by the devices that send and receive them. The government has initiated an eight-week consultation process on proposed changes to the law, which currently allows for the retention of internet browsing records for 12 months and allows for the collection of personal data in bulk.
WhatsApp and Signal are among platforms that oppose regulation in the Online Security Bill, which allows the communications regulator to ask companies to install the technology necessary to screen for child abuse material in encrypted messaging apps and other services.
Apple, on the other hand, has consistently opposed the law, initially dubbed a “snooper’s charter” by critics. Apple said they won’t make changes to security features specifically for one country that would weaken a product for all users, and some changes cannot be made secretly as they will require a software update. The company even says that if this regulation is accepted, services such as FaceTime and iMessage will be closed in the UK, and it is challenging the British government by calling it a kind of “holy challenge”.
The government argues these changes are “not about creating new powers” but about making the law more compatible with existing technology.
Information security expert at the University of Surrey, Prof. Alan Woodward says tech companies are less likely to accept proposals. “The government has a degree of arrogance and ignorance if they believe some of the big tech companies will comply with the new requirements without a big fight,” Woodward says.
The Home Office told the BBC the Investigative Powers Act was designed to “protect the public from criminals, child molesters and terrorists”.
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