U.K. Tells WhatsApp to Open Up to Intelligence Services

U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging system should open its encryption to security services and urged online companies to be more aggressive in shutting down sites exploited by terrorists, according to Bloomberg.

After newspapers disclosed that  Khalid Masood, who killed four people in London last week, had used WhatsApp shortly before he began his attack, Rudd identified the company as needing to do more to help fight terrorism. “It’s completely unacceptable“ that messages can’t be opened, Rudd told the BBC’s “Andrew Marr Show“ on Sunday. “We need to make sure that our intelligence services have the ability to get into encrypted services like WhatsApp.“

Since the attack, government ministers have berated online companies for taking inadequate steps to stop the spread of hate messages. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Rudd said the internet is “serving as a conduit, inciting and inspiring violence, and spreading extremist ideology.“ Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson told the Sunday Times that “They need to stop just making money out of prurient violent material.“

Governments and security agencies are facing an uphill struggle to keep up with new technology, and while the FBI has managed to unlock iPhones in order to obtain data, messaging tools are harder to crack. Some governments have taken overt measures in their attempts to obtain data. WhatsApp was temporarily blocked in Brazil in December 2015, after the company refused to allow the government to see communications between alleged drug dealers involved in a criminal case.

However, tech companies have presented a united front against attempts from governments to obtain data. WhatsApp publicly backed Apple in its argument with the FBI regarding the unlocking of an iPhone that belonged to one of the shooters in a massacre in San Bernardino, California.