Top UK official: ‘Real people’ don’t care about encryption

United Kingdom Home Secretary Amber Rudd claimed “real people” do not consider security to be a selling point when picking smartphone chat applications. 

“Who uses WhatsApp because it is end-to-end encrypted, rather than because it is an incredibly user-friendly and cheap way to keep in touch with friends and family?” Rudd wrote in an editorial about encryption in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday. 

Rudd, like leaders in Germany and France, as well as some politicians in America, is concerned about “end-to-end” encryption — encryption that cannot be broken while data is in transit — because there is no way for law enforcement to intercept such communications, even with a warrant. 

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In the editorial, she said she had traveled to Silicon Valley to discuss the issue with tech firms.

Many of the top chat apps on the market incorporate end-to-end encryption. An Amnesty International report of 16 globally popular chat apps found that more than half used or permitted end-to-end encryption, including Telegram, Apple Chat, Facebook Messenger, Viber and Line.

Over the weekend, Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) accused European nations of unfairly criticizing the United States for being weak on privacy while European Union members pursued their own policies to limit encryption.