Parliament & Internet Conf '15 A Scotland Yard cyber cop argued today that adding a tick box to online services could help the police respond faster to online crime and deal with the challenge of end-to-end encryption.

DCI Andrew Gould, deputy head of the Met's cyber crime and fraud team (FALCON), reiterated the well-worn line about a loss of capabilities to access comms data during a debate in Parliament this morning.

He argued that "a right to privacy drowns out the right to life" and said that Blighty's cops worked hard to protect members of the public from criminals and terrorists.

Gould seemed frustrated with the current state of play by saying that, post-Snowden, "everything is encrypted now".

"We are losing capability, we are losing substantial levels of capacity," he added.

Later in the discussion, Gould said that he found the term Snoopers' Charter to be "offensive" and claimed that the current debate on surveillance among UK netizens, businesses and policy wonks was "patronising".

He said cybercrime had increased 70 per cent in the UK in the past year in a clear nod to recent, high-profile breaches (read: TalkTalk, M&S). Gould argued that the volume of these attacks would be a reality check for the encryption debate and lead to a demand for better protection online.

On developments in technology and the legislative framework, Gould argued: "We always get left behind."

The cyber cop's comments were timely: the government is expected to publish its draft investigatory powers bill next week. ®