Warning to WhatsApp UK users as firm threatens to leave country amid privacy row

dailyrecord.co.uk:

WhatsApp could vanish from UK mobile phones amid a row over the proposed online safety bill.The tech giant says it would sooner leave the UK than comply with the legislation it believes "compromises" the privacy of all users and could allow Ofcom to scan people's private messages.The proposed set of laws aims to protect children and laws online and make social media companies more responsible for user safety.

Ministers have been warned that time is running out to make an amicable resolution with WhatsApp, as reports the Guardian.WhatsApp claims the bill does not protect end-to-end encryption, a method of secure communication that prevents anyone but a sender and recipient from seeing messages.Messages on WhatsApp are secured with this technology and the firm has previously said it would sooner leave the UK than risk the security of its other users. "Ninety-eight per cent of our users are outside the UK," WhatsApp head Will Cathcart told the Guardian in March."They do not want us to lower the security of the product, and just as a straightforward matter, it would be an odd choice for us to choose to lower the security of the product in a way that would affect those 98% of users."WhatsApp, Signal, and a coalition of providers voiced their concerns in an open letter released last month.Their letter reads: "The bill provides no explicit protection for encryption and if implemented as written, could empower Ofcom to try to force the proactive scanning of private messages on end-to-end encrypted communication services, nullifying the purpose of end-to-end encryption as a result and compromising the privacy of all users."The bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords where members have warned the Government to