U.K. Government Plans Publicity Campaign to Build Public Sentiment Against End-to-End Encryption

James Ball, reporting for Rolling Stone:

The UK government is set to launch a multi-pronged publicity attack on end-to-end encryption, Rolling Stone has learned. One key objective: mobilizing public opinion against Facebook’s decision to encrypt its Messenger app.

The Home Office has hired the M&C Saatchi advertising agency — a spin-off of Saatchi and Saatchi, which made the “Labour Isn’t Working” election posters, among the most famous in UK political history — to plan the campaign, using public funds. [...]

In a lecture last November, former chief executive of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre Ciaran Martin criticized the Home Office’s rhetoric on encryption — and its broader approach. [...]

“In other words, the policy is technological ‘cakeism’ — the government is trying to eat its lawful access cake while having end-to-end encrypted protection for citizens more generally … Most experts are highly doubtful, and believe the government is searching for the digital equivalent of alchemy.”

“The digital equivalent of alchemy” — what a great turn of phrase to describe the persistent notion that it’s possible to create strong encryption with a backdoor that only “good guys” can use.

★ Monday, 17 January 2022