UK passes online safety bill that stirred encryption concerns

U.K.’s Online Safety Bill passed its past parliamentary speechmaking connected Sept. 19 and is acceptable to go law, according to a Sept. 20 statement.

The measure is designed to support children from harmful and amerciable net content. It requires societal media companies to make measures to boost online state and safety. Per the property statement:

“The measure takes a zero-tolerance attack to protecting children and makes definite societal media platforms are held liable for the contented they host.”

The Secretary of State for Technology, Michelle Donelan, described the measure arsenic game-changing legislation making the “U.K. the safest spot successful the satellite to beryllium online.” Donelan added:

“Our common-sense attack volition present a amended aboriginal for British people, by making definite that what is amerciable offline is amerciable online. It puts protecting children first, enabling america to drawback keyboard criminals and ace down connected the heinous crimes they question to commit.”

In July, U.K. lawmakers had emphasized the request to see the metaverse and its associated environments wrong the bill’s scope.

Encryption nether threat?

The measure had drawn terrible disapproval from respective large technological companies astir eroding integer privateness and granting accrued authorities surveillance.

Tech elephantine Apple urged the authorities to amend the measure to support encryption due to the fact that it “is a captious capableness that protects the privateness of journalists, quality rights activists, and diplomats. It besides helps citizens support themselves from surveillance, individuality theft, fraud, and information breaches. The Online Safety Bill earnestly threatens this extortion and could enactment U.K. citizens astatine greater risk.”

In response, the U.K. authorities reportedly said companies could instrumentality end-to-end encryption if they could simultaneously guarantee that their platforms would not beryllium utilized to dispersed amerciable contented similar carnal abuse, kid abuse, and others.

The station UK passes online information measure that stirred encryption concerns appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.