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After a two-day summit in London, senior ministers from the
group comprising the United States and allies Britain, Canada,
Australia and New Zealand, said encryption should not come at
the expense of the public's safety.
"We are concerned where companies deliberately design their
systems in a way that precludes any form of access to content,
even in cases of the most serious crimes," the group said in a
statement following the conference.
"Tech companies should include mechanisms in the design of their
encrypted products and services whereby governments, acting with
appropriate legal authority, can obtain access to data in a
readable and usable format."
The five English-speaking allies have an agreement to share
intelligence and techniques for gathering it, a relationship
that evolved from a secret World War Two alliance between
British and U.S. cypher and code breaking teams.
Encrypted data makes it harder for spies to pry. Western
governments have said this can complicate investigations and
prosecutions of those involved in child sex abuse or terrorism.
However, tech firms have warned that putting "backdoors" into
their systems to allow the authorities access would weaken
security and make them more vulnerable to attacks from criminals
or foreign states.
"The Five Eyes are united that tech firms should not develop
their systems and services, including end-to-end encryption, in
ways that empower criminals or put vulnerable people at risk,"
said British Home Secretary Priti Patel.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s attorney general William Barr
attracted controversy last week when he complained about how the
proliferation of “warrant-proof encryption” was making it easier
for criminals to “evade detection”.
"Encryption presents a unique challenge. We must ensure that we
do not stand by as advances in technology create spaces where
criminal activity of the most heinous kind can go undetected and
unpunished," Barr said after the security summit.
Britain's Home Office said that the tech industry, which took
part in a roundtable with ministers, agreed to collaborate with
the Five Eyes on a set of voluntary principles, which will be
drawn up by the end of the September, on steps to combat child
sex abuse, including the growing threat of livestreaming.
(Reporting By Mark Hosenball and Michael Holden; editing by Guy
Faulconbridge)
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