In a move that might get him to lose more votes, particularly from the liberal sector, UK Prime Minister David Cameron vowed to mete sanctions on software developers that would not allow backdoor access when the government requests it. That is if he wins the national elections set this May. He is the most vocal among the Western governments that are going for an anti-encryption propaganda.
Given the recent world events, a lot of governments are growing nervous and jittery when monitoring possible sources of terrorist attacks. But so are the people. After the NSA revelations from former analyst Edward Snowden, the celebrity hacking incidents and of course the recent leaks of sensitive Sony documents, online security and privacy is at the forefront of our digital consciousness. During Cameron's campaign, he said that encrypted messaging services should not be allowed to have a means of communication that "simply isn't possible to read". He emphasized that recent events have only underscored the need for governments to have greater access when needed.
This is totally opposite the sentiment of most users and even software developers and OEMs. Apple CEO Tim Cook has sad that, "People have a right to privacy" and their latest mobile phones are now encrypted by default. The Nexus 6 from Google has also done the same, preventing the government from accessing the content directly from the hardware, even if they have a warrant.
Now whether Cameron will actually be able to ban or punish such messaging apps like Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber etc remains to be seen. (Actually, whether he will win the election remains a big question as well). On our side of the pond, Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director James Comey are calling on cooperation from the industry to give access when needed because, according to Holder, encryption may actually "embolden" criminals. The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA) requires carriers and telcos to give the government access to wiretaps, but this does not cover phone hardware and other communication services like the apps.
VIA: ArsTechnica