UK Should Follow US, Holland and Keep Encrypted Data – Privacy Int'l

The UK government should act as Washington and Amsterdam and not compromise encrypted data shared by citizens in the proposed security bill, the director of campaigns and development at Privacy International told Sputnik on Saturday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova – On Thursday, the Netherlands decided not to call for legislation to force companies to decode messages for security agencies to fight terrorism. Washington made a similar decision in October.

"The UK government now needs to follow the United States and Netherlands’ lead, and ensure the revised Investigatory Powers Bill drops all plans that would weaken encryption," Harmit Kambo said.

The bill, introduced to the UK parliament on November 4, requires domestic communications companies to retain their customers' web browsing history for 12 months and provides police and intelligence services with access to such browsing and personal communication histories.

Top technology companies, including Apple, Facebook and Google, criticized the draft bill, arguing it would weaken security for regular users.