British government: intelligence services must be able to view encrypted chats

The British government calls it unacceptable that intelligence services cannot intercept encrypted chat conversations. The authorities want to ensure that instant messaging apps ‘do not become a safe haven for terrorists’.

Britain’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd will meet with tech companies this week to discuss issues related to encrypted communications, among other things. “In the old days, people could open envelopes with steam or tap phones to find out what people were doing, legally, with court orders,” Rudd said.

She made her statements to the BBC in response to last Wednesday’s attack by a Briton. British authorities have now made 12 arrests in connection with the attack, but the inability to eavesdrop on chat traffic would hinder the investigation. The terrorist is said to have used WhatsApp just before his attack. “In this situation, we need to make sure that intelligence agencies have the ability to get into encrypted WhatsApp conversations.”

Rudd received support from Europol chief executive Rob Wainwright. It is not clear what exactly the British authorities require from the tech companies. Rudd will ask, among others, Apple CEO Tim Cook to think about solutions. WhatsApp states that it is cooperating with the authorities, but the implementation of end-to-end encryption means that the service itself cannot monitor chats either. Last year, the British government also stated that encryption should be ‘removable’.