That old chestnut again – yours and my privacy

Let me say this before I start, I support any action both legal and technical that will be effective in preventing the exploitation of the vulnerable. We support this government initiative (check the page footer):

Let’s stop abuse together

I like parts of the government’s forthcoming Online Safety Bill and other parts I dislike. I like that the companies that make money though the publication of hateful material on their platforms, whilst saying sorry we will take it down (eventually), will be made accountable. I dislike the threat that the law-abiding citizen will no longer have the right to private communications and that “authorities” will have a right to inspect those communications, in the name of child protection. Law breakers will simply move their communications elsewhere.

For paedophiles that would probably mean going back to the 1960s and leaving cryptic messages scrawled on public toilet walls. Do we now ban public toilets?

7 July 2022

Law enforcement has due process now, to get a warrant based on gathered evidence, to inspect suspects communications. The bill appears too only save the police some work at everyone’s expense.

I have written several articles about the bill over the last few months, I have put a link to them below.

For today I want to point you at an article by Thomas Claburn over on The Register laying out one side of the argument:

Client-side scanning to detect child abuse material harmful • The Register

And here is the government’s point of view:

Thoughts on child safety on commodity platforms – Ian Levy and Crispin Robinson (This appears to be an academic paper, it is not. It is a very good discussion document; it lacks peer review and an academic structure.)

Read them both, have a look at some of my other articles, do your own research – then you make up your mind and make your voice heard?

Further Reading

Online Safety Bill articles (Smart Thinking Solutions)

Online Safety Act publications – Parliamentary Bills – UK Parliament

British recycle old arguments for bypassing E2E encryption • The Register

Financial watchdogs increase scrutiny of workplace comms • The Register