Deliberately vague, overreaching legislation which leaves enough ambiguity to let the government basically do whatever the hell they want.<p>The last bit of legislation they brought in with similar properties led - completely and utterly predictably - to the arresting of peaceful protestors <i>who hadn't even started protesting yet</i> [0]<p>It was insanely obvious ahead of time that that would happen. And it's insanely obvious ahead of time <i>again</i> what's going to happen with this new legislation too.<p>It makes me extremely angry how hostile the UK seems to be becoming to its own citizens as well as its overseas friends.<p>Not everyone in the UK wants to treat everyone like a criminal until proven innocent, nor treat all foreigners as suspicious and unwelcome. Not even a majority now, retrospectively, even wanted to leave the EU.<p>I increasingly do not recognise our government as one that is in any kind of alignment with my values as a UK citizen or even as just a decent human being.<p>Edit: And don't even get me started on the crazy rhetoric coming from the National Conservatism event [1]<p></rant><p>[0] <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/06/head-of-uks-leading-anti-monarchy-group-arrested-at-coronation-protest" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/06/head-of-uks-...</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/16/terms-linked-antisemitism-uk-national-conservatism-event" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/16/terms-linke...</a>
And if it goes, the "terrorists and child sexual abusers" they're writing this bill to target move to Telegram. Then whatever other application allows them to speak in private. The rest of the electorate is left massively inconvenienced for zero gain. My guess is they spent many thousands of hours in civil servant time to achieve something of no use to anyone. The incompetency of this government honestly astounds me.
The good thing about making this about WhatsApp is that UK MPs and most political hangers-on use WhatsApp *extensively*. If opponents point out that government scheming, speaker circuit bookings, fast-track lanes for government contracts, and the like will become more difficult, then maybe MPs will reconsider.<p>Unencrypted and on-the-public-record political party and government communications will worry MPs more than it worries "terrorists and paedos".
An excellent source of information on the motives of UK legislators for passing this legislation, other than the incompetence and malice hypothesised in the other comments, is this parliamentary research briefing from 2022 [1], which summarises the previous five years of consultation and links to a heap of previous white papers and critical responses.<p>The "news" is that on 17 April 2023, the heads of WhatsApp, Signal and other companies published an open letter questioning "the Government's stated intention to protect end-to-end encryption and respect the human right to privacy" [2], and on 27 April 2023, a member of the House of Lords said that "services such as WhatsApp will potentially leave the UK" [3] if the Bill is passed. The debate is actually pretty informed and a refreshing antidote to the cynicism about democracy expressed elsewhere, until you recall that the House of Lords is not that democratic.<p>[1]: <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9506/" rel="nofollow">https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-...</a><p>[2]: <a href="https://blog.whatsapp.com/an-open-letter" rel="nofollow">https://blog.whatsapp.com/an-open-letter</a><p>[3]: <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2023-04-27/debates/AC7C700F-39F3-406C-854C-0EA6F3E3E911/OnlineSafetyBill#contribution-BE0861B9-7976-47A7-BE8D-C8AC25BBB896" rel="nofollow">https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2023-04-27/debates/AC7C7...</a>
Right of course, the same ministers that should have used the corporate systems for public discourse and instead did a load of dodgy deals on whatsapp on phones that they then 'lost' when asked for to gain evidence from.
Does anyone have a good comprehensive source for arguments against such a move, books or articles? I'd like to bolster my own stance on the subject.
I still haven't accepted the "new" WhatsApp privacy policy. It's been over a year, and every time I open the app I just click the "X" to close the prompt asking me to accept it. I'm wondering how long this can continue...
> If users access WhatsApp through a web browser, the service can also collect information about websites visited before and after sending messages, Collins added.<p>Whoa, how would they do that? Or is that just a british MP not knowing what he's talking about?
My interpretation from the article is they're not after e2ee they're after the unencryted end points. That'll be the technical measures they're after. Something like the ill-fated apple scanning all media before anything.