In an article in the Daily Telegraph timed to coincide with Rudd’s appearance at a closed event in San Francisco, Rudd argued: “Real people often prefer ease of use and a multitude of features to perfect, unbreakable security.”
She continued: “Who uses WhatsApp because it is end-to-end encrypted, rather than because it is an incredibly user-friendly and cheap way of staying in touch with friends and family? Companies are constantly making trade-offs between security and ‘usability,’ and it is here where our experts believe opportunities may lie.”
The reference to “real people” struck a nerve with a host of security experts, sysadmins, privacy advocates and tech-savvy consumers who took to Twitter to point out that they were real people, and not ISIS sympathizers – as Rudd implied in her piece. Rudd essentially declared that people who use strong encryption are not normal, not real people, which is a rather dangerous sentiment.
Source: ‘Real’ people want govts to spy on them, argues UK Home Secretary
What the actual fuck?
Robin Edgar
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