Five Eyes Repeat Encryption Backdoor Calls

The Western Five Eyes powers have issued yet another joint statement effectively calling for tech firms to engineer backdoors into end-to-end and device encryption.

The post-war intelligence alliance of the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada was joined by India and Japan in issuing the new missive — the latest of many calls to engage with governments on the issue.

The arguments put forward were the same as always: a few lines in support of encryption’s role in protecting data, privacy, and IP, followed by many more decrying the fact that it can also enable violent criminals, terrorists and child abusers to stay hidden online from investigators.

As they did last year, the Five Eyes nations called on tech firms like Apple and Facebook to find a way to accede to law enforcement requests for access to encrypted data on suspects. As it stands, they can do neither this nor police their own platforms for content that violates terms of service, the governments argued.

“We reiterate that data protection, respect for privacy and the importance of encryption as technology changes and global internet standards are developed remain at the forefront of each state’s legal framework,” concluded the statement. 

“However, we challenge the assertion that public safety cannot be protected without compromising privacy or cybersecurity. We strongly believe that approaches protecting each of these important values are possible and strive to work with industry to collaborate on mutually agreeable solutions.”

The problem with these demands is that they are just not technically feasible, according to the technology community. It would require firms to effectively engineer backdoors into services wh ..

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