In the aftermath of the recent Charlie Hebdo attacks, it came as no surprise politicians were quick to up the antenna (again) on surveillance and stifle the right to privacy – whilst, in the same breath, they drape themselves publicly in Paris to embrace free speech and press freedom.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, for example, stole the headlines this week saying that, if re-elected in May, he would ban encrypted online messaging apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat if the British intelligence agencies were not given backdoors to access the communications.
“We must not allow terrorists safe space to communicate with each other,” said Cameron as he spoke about a “comprehensive piece of legislation” to close the “safe spaces” used by suspected terrorists – and also planned to encourage US President Barack Obama (who should be reminded that he has promised to pursue NSA reforms) to make internet companies like Facebook and Twitter cooperate with British intelligence agencies to track the online activities of Islamist extremists.
Backdoors are by and large security holes and what Cameron is proposing would set a dangerous precedence with irreversible consequences far beyond the loss of free speech – this is best summed up in the following open letter to David Cameron (below – and here):
Like this:
Like Loading...