Getty

The UK government still wants to fundamentally undermine encryption in the name of national security, despite a spokesperson for Number 10 saying the prime minister does not want to ban encryption after all.

Media reports claimed the prime minister had performed a "u-turn" on his apparent plan to ban encryption to ensure terrorists had no "safe space" to communicate online, but the latest comments from Number 10 do not in fact suggest a change of position. "The prime minister did not suggest encryption should be banned," a spokesperson for Number 10 told Business Insider. "We accept and completely recognise the importance of encryption".


Despite understanding its importance, the government has made it clear it needs to access encrypted communications. Eerke Boiten, senior lecturer in computer science at the University of Kent, claimed all Cameron ever wanted to do was stop companies using encryption the government could not break.

"Cameron never wanted to ban encryption," Boiten told WIRED.co.uk. "The thing he has always wanted is to be able to access all people's communications without having to ask them."

Read next Corporate snitches are using screen monitoring to find and fire slackers Corporate snitches are using screen monitoring to find and fire slackers

Boiten argued the prime minster was presenting himself as "less than technically qualified" and had taken up positions his advisors knew to be "naive". "He will get ridicule from the experts, but some level of support from the broad population," Boiten claimed.

He said that as a result any "draconian surveillance" introduced in the upcoming Investigatory Powers Bill would appear to be a "compromise".


If you have strong encryption between your web browser and your bank, you can't have a man-in-the-middle from the government wiretapping that Phil Zimmermann, creator of PGP

"Cameron's advisors are smart enough to know that you can't ban encryption, and probably also to know that you can't build in secure and reliable government backdoors. But that's too complex and subtle for a large number of politicians let alone the majority of the population, so they can get away with Cameron grandstanding on loose sand."

The government continues to create confusion about how it intends to surveil all online communications while not breaking encryption. When challenged by Business Insider, a Number 10 spokesperson said such hurdles underlined "the complexity of the issue".

Read next Why the NHS Covid-19 contact tracing app failed Why the NHS Covid-19 contact tracing app failed

Boiten argued the prime minister may try and persuade services that use end-to-end encryption, such as Apple and WhatsApp, to introduce government backdoors to give UK spies access to private communications.


Talks may well be imminent or already underway. Last summer's rushed DRIP legislation allowed for the UK's security services to conduct extraterritorial surveillance, but the Intelligence and Security Committee's recent report revealed the powers had not been used in practice. Using such powers against overseas internet companies while planning to negotiate for access to encryption keys may be unwise, Boiten argued.

While such deals may be proposed, they will eventually "go off the table" due to the international nature of the internet. In any case, people who really need to communicate securely "will be able to find and develop technology" to avoid any government surveillance, Boiten added.

The expansion of encryption and companies not storing any data poses challenges for the government's efforts to keep people safe online Baroness Shields, minister for internet safety and security

Cameron's opinions on encryption first made headlines in January when the prime minister said intelligence agencies were in danger of losing the ability to monitor "dark places" on the web. "Do we want to allow a means of communication between people which we cannot read?" he asked rhetorically. At the time his comments were interpreted as meaning he wanted to ban encryption.

Read next How to properly secure your Ring camera against getting hacked How to properly secure your Ring camera against getting hacked

Phil Zimmermann, who invented the PGP email encryption standard, said any proposals to restrict end-to-end encryption in the UK were "absurd". "End-to-end encryption is everywhere now: in browsers, online banking. If you have strong encryption between your web browser and your bank, you can't have a man-in-the-middle from the government wiretapping that," Zimmerman told The Guardian.

But the government's position has been continually muddied. As well as comments from Number 10 suggesting the prime minster isn't trying to ban encryption, a ministerial letter leaked to Business Insider also claimed the government supported encryption, but only in specific circumstances.

John Lamparski/WireImage


The letter, sent by internet safety and security minister Baroness Shields to Labour MP Yvonne Fovargue, claimed the government "supports encryption, which helps keep people's personal data and intellectual property safe from theft by cyber means."

Shields, formerly Facebook's EMEA vice-president and chairman of publicly funded Tech City, said encryption was "fundamental" to the internet, adding there would be "no online commerce" without it.

Yet the government's current position supports encryption while simultaneously aiming to undermine it. As Shields noted, the government wants to develop ways for police and intelligence agencies to access "the content of communications of terrorists and serious criminals", regardless of whether they are encrypted or not. How it intends to do that without undermining encryption remains unclear. "The expansion of encryption and companies not storing any data poses challenges for the government's efforts to keep people safe online, but steps to address the technological challenges we face also need to be addressed sensitively," Shields claimed.