Encrypted social media messages might be unlocked if required by investigators
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Encrypted social media messages could be accessed by police or families of deceased relatives if unlocked by five trusted authorities using a “virtual key.”
The Telegraph reports that the key technology offers a potential solution to the stand-off between Governments and tech giants like Facebook over how law enforcement agencies can monitor messages sent via end-to-end encryption.
UK and US Governments have accused Facebook of putting lives at risk by extending encryption to all its messaging platforms, potentially preventing police and security agencies tracking terrorists, child abusers and other criminals.
Last week Sir Andrew Parker, the outgoing head of MI5, appealed to tech giants’ “brilliant technologists” to come up with a form of encryption that would allow law enforcement agencies to protect people from online harms including terrorists and extremists. He wants a technological equivalent to a physical wiretap where the spy agencies could get judicially-authorised access to messages between suspected terrorists or criminals. Under Facebook’s proposals, even the company will not have access to the encrypted communications.
