Encryption ban proposal in the United Kingdom
The UK encryption ban was a pledge by former British prime minister David Cameron to ban online messaging applications that offer end-to-end encryption, such as WhatsApp, iMessage, and Snapchat, under a nationwide surveillance plan. Cameron's proposal was in response to the services which allow users to communicate without providing the UK security services access to their messages, which in turn could allegedly allow suspected terrorists a safe means of communication.
Proposal
On 15 January 2015, David Cameron asked American president Barack Obama to increase pressure on American Internet companies to work more closely with British intelligence agencies, in order to deny potential terrorists a "safe space" to communicate, as well as seeking co-operation to implement tighter surveillance controls. Under new proposals, messaging apps will have to either add a backdoor to their programs, or risk a potential ban within the UK. To justify the proposal to ban encryption, David Cameron claims that "In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people, which even in extremis, with a signed warrant from the home secretary personally, that we cannot read?" In defending surveillance of Internet messaging, Cameron pointed out that the British state already possessed the legal ability to read people's private letters and to surveil their private phone calls.In July 2016, newly appointed home secretary Amber Rudd confirmed the proposed Investigatory Powers Bill would grant any Secretary of State the powers to force communication service providers to remove or disable end-to-end encryption.