Met Commissioner: Tech giants are making it harder to identify and stop terrorists
Law enforcement tends to distrust anything that makes their job harder, but end-to-end encryption enjoys huge public support
Tech companies' focus on end-to-end encryption technology is making it harder - if not impossible - to identify and stop terrorists, says the UK's most senior police officer.
In an opinion piece in the Telegraph, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick warned that terrorist groups are now exploiting advances in communications technology "to reach, recruit and inspire anyone, anywhere and at any time through social media and the internet."
"The current focus on encryption by many big tech companies is only serving to make our job to identify and stop these people even harder, if not impossible in some cases," she said.
Last week, Dame Cressida Dick addressed the 20th Annual World Summit on Counter Terrorism, where she warned that vulnerable people can now be radicalised in a matter of weeks if targeted by extremists online; but online platforms are failing to take appropriate steps to stop this danger.
"They have the power and resources to make real difference. But they are not doing enough to protect people against the harm that takes place on their platforms."
The Commissoner said end-to-end encryption was just "one example of how this wonderful capability that we all have now to communicate in different ways is also not only damaging to society but preventing law enforcement agencies the world over from protecting their citizens."
Last week, MI5 chief Ken McCallum warned that the UK could face a terrorist attack like 9/11 after the West's withdrawal from Afghanistan. McCallum said that MI5 and the police had thwarted 31 'late stage' plots to attack the UK in the past four years, including six during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dame Cressida Dick's concerns echoes that of Home Secretary Priti Patel, who last week launched the Safety Tech Challenge Fund aimed at tackling child sexual abuse online.
As part of the programme, five applicants will be awarded up to £85,000 each to develop new technologies that enable the detection of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, without breaking end-to-end encryption.
Despite government concerns, encrypted messaging remains a sensitive topic with much public support.
Earlier this month, Apple said that it was delaying plans to roll out an automated scanning feature in iCloud Photos that is intended to protect children from predators.
Apple announced the feature last month, saying it was intended to limit the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online. However, the decision met pushback from security and privacy advocates, who said it could open a backdoor to iPhones - allowing authoritarian governments and hackers to access devices without permission.
Earlier this year, the Open Rights Group (ORG) urged the Home Office to clarify all legal and technical measures that it had been considering to compel Facebook to break end-to-end encryption on its messaging apps. In 2019, the ORG signed an open letter addressed to the law enforcement authorities in the UK, the US and Australia, which expressed concerns over authorities' statements against the use of encryption in messaging services.