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Intelligence Services

Answer

The Government is in favour of strong encryption: it is critical to protect UK citizens from harm online, and billions of people use it every day for a range of services including banking, commerce and communications.

However, like many powerful technologies, encrypted services are abused by a small minority of people. There is a particular problem with end-to-end encryption where certain providers have deliberately designed their systems so that even they cannot see the content of the message.

The Secretary of State meets with a range of stakeholders to discuss various issues as part of the process of policy development and delivery. As was the case with previous administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings. However, we are committed to working with service providers to fulfil our collective responsibility to protect us from terrorists and those who commit serious crimes, while allowing providers to protect privacy. We are quite clear that it is essential for law enforcement to access content when there is a clear need and when properly warranted. The Government will continue to press for that ability.

A mature dialogue between government and industry on this issue is crucial, and we expect them to live up to their responsibilities: working with law enforcement where there is a warrant authorised by a Secretary of State and approved by a senior judge under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

118292

Session

2017-19

Subjects

Disclosure of information Intelligence services Technology Cryptography Social media

Link

View this Written question on www.parliament.uk