Facebook has rejected a call from the US, UK and Australia governments to create a 'backdoor' in its messaging apps so law enforcement officials can access encrypted messages. The company said this "would be a gift to criminals, hackers and repressive regimes", as it was impossible to create access for one purpose and not expect others to try to exploit the weakened security.
Ministers of the three countries published an open letter last October asking Facebook to halt plans to extend encryption to its Messenger service, in addition to WhatsApp. This would mean police and other law enforcement officials could not access messages over the platforms in order to investigate and prosecute crimes.
Opening up the platforms to law enforcement would violate the "core principle" of end-to-end encryption, Facebook said, that only the sender and recipient of a message have the keys to "unlock" and read what is sent. "No one can intercept and read these messages - not us, not governments, not hackers or criminals," the company said in a letter to the three governments.
Furthermore, it is "simply impossible" to break the encryption for the sole purpose of law enforcement without weakening security across the system, Facebook said. "People’s private messages would be less secure and the real winners would be anyone seeking to take advantage of that weakened security. That is not something we are prepared to do," the company said.
Facebook said it would continue to consult with industry and civil society groups on ways to strengthen safety on its platforms and cooperate with law enforcement wherever possible, "as long as it is consistent with the law and does not undermine the safety of our users".
Senate hearings
The statement follows Senate hearings in the US where executives from Facebook and Apple defended their privacy practices. The Senators threatened to impose the access requirements on the companies if they did not cooperate on their own, saying more needed to be done to root out extreme crimes such as child sex abuse, sex trafficking and terrorism over the messaging platforms.
Facebook privacy executive Jay Sullivan told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Facebook is working on techniques that will detect instances of child exploitation, without breaking its encryption, the Washington Post reported. WhatsApp already uses this kind of encryption and removes about 250,000 accounts each month for child abuse.
Facebook also is making it easier for users to flag objectionable content, so the company can act. This then allows it report cases to law enforcement, or provide evidence if it receives a lawful request from authorities.
