Specialists have shown that it is possible to combat grooming and child abuse content in end-to-end encrypted environments, he continued.
According to the government, end-to-end encryption is not prohibited under the online safety bill.
“We can and must have both; it is not a choice between privacy and kid safety.”
However, detractors claim that scanning the contents of encrypted messages on a device like a phone before they are encrypted and transferred is the only practical way to check for child sexual abuse material. Therefore, the anonymity that encryption offers is undermined by this client-side monitoring.
Graham Smith, a lawyer, tweeted: “You may counter that you don’t actually destroy a fence by excavating around its end, but what good does that do if your goal is to trespass on someone else’s property? And once the hole has been made, the fence might as well not exist.”
“Tool for mass surveillance”
And Mr. Cathcart questioned what would happen if other nations showed up and provided different lists of prohibited content if corporations installed software on people’s phones and computers to scan the substance of their communications.
“With over 40 million users of encrypted chat services in the UK, this turns it into a mass-surveillance weapon, with potentially catastrophic effects for privacy and free-expression rights,” said Dr. Monica Horten of the digital-rights advocacy group the Open Rights Group.
