Mon Jul 24, 2023 – 4:20 pm EDT
(LifeSiteNews) — A slew of popular smartphone messaging app providers are threatening to remove their services from the U.K. market as the government proceeds with a controversial internet “safety” bill which they say would permit the government to scan the content of messages sent through their encrypted services.
Under the banner of tackling online child pornography distribution, the bill, which is set to become law in September, allows for the provision of “backdoors” in all encrypted messaging services, granting the government an access point to private messages and thus compromising the security of end-to-end encryption.
Apple, which provides encrypted iMessages and FaceTime calls, and messaging app Signal have both said the law would see them remove these services from the U.K. market rather than compromise the security and privacy of their worldwide users. As ComputerWorld reported on June 28:
Apple is not alone. More than 80 civil society organizations, academics, and experts from 23 nations have warned against the U.K. government’s decision, which would turn the U.K. into the first democracy to require routine surveillance of people’s private chats.
Yet the move, which the U.K. government maintains is
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