The U.K. government has an idea for getting around the thorny issue of tech companies creating a backdoor for encrypted services: just let government agents be able to listen in on encrypted communications.
That’s the so-called “ghost proposal” being put forward by officials from Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a close surveillance partner of the U.S. National Security Agency. The proposal would make it possible to inject hidden participants into secure messaging services.
GCHQ’s Ian Levy and Crispin Robinson write that:
“It’s relatively easy for a service provider to silently add a law enforcement participant to a group chat or call. The service provider usually controls the identity system and so really decides who’s who and which devices are involved — they’re usually involved in introducing the parties to a chat or call … In a solution like this, we’re normally talking about suppressing a notification on a target’s device… and possibly those they communicate with.”
A solution that works for everyone?
The idea is that this should somehow prove more palatable to companies like Apple, since it wouldn’t mean breaking their encryption (at least not technically.) On the other hand, it would compel companies like Apple to allow governments to choose when they wanted to listen in on chats as invisible eavesdroppers.
It’s highly unlikely that this proposal will find favor with companies like Apple. Apple previously criticized the U.K.’s proposed “Snooper’s Charter” during the legislation’s draft stage. Specifically, it argued that forcing companies to create backdoors in encryption services like iMessage could “hurt law-abiding citizens.” It has also spent considerable time arguing against similar rulings in the United States.
Still, just because tech companies don’t like proposed rules doesn’t mean they won’t necessarily be signed into law. We’ll keep you updated on the progress of this latest bit of suggested legislation.
Source: ACLU
