=====

The Open Letter from the Governments of US, UK, and Australia to Facebook is An All-Out Attack on Encryption

By Andrew Crocker and Joe Mullin
October 3, 2019

Top law enforcement officials in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia told Facebook today that they want backdoor access to all encrypted messages sent on all its platforms. In an open letter, these governments called on Mark Zuckerberg to stop Facebook’s plan to introduce end-to-end encryption on all of the company’s messaging products and instead promise that it will “enable law enforcement to obtain lawful access to content in a readable and usable format.”

This is a staggering attempt to undermine the security and privacy of communications tools used by billions of people. Facebook should not comply. The letter comes in concert with the signing of a new agreement between the US and UK to provide access to allow law enforcement in one jurisdiction to more easily obtain electronic data stored in the other jurisdiction. But the letter to Facebook goes much further: law enforcement and national security agencies in these three countries are asking for nothing less than access to every conversation that crosses every digital device.

Continues; includes active links to additional information:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/open-letter-governments-us-uk-and-australia-facebook-all-out-attack-encryption

*****************************************************