Responding to the Government ordering Apple to let them spy on users’ encrypted messages, Interim Director of privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, Rebecca Vincent, said:
“We are extremely troubled by reports that the UK government has ordered Apple to create a backdoor that would effectively break encryption for millions of users – an unprecedented attack on privacy rights that has no place in any democracy.
Big Brother Watch has been ringing alarm bells about the possibility of precisely this scenario since the adoption of the Investigatory Powers Bill in 2016.
We all want the government to be able to effectively tackle crime and terrorism, but breaking encryption will not make us safer. Instead it will erode the fundamental rights and civil liberties of the entire population – and it will not stop with Apple.
We urge the UK government to immediately rescind this draconian order and cease attempts to employ mass surveillance in lieu of the targeted powers already at their disposal.”
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Spokespeople are available for interview – please contact 07730439257 or info@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk