Apple Encryption and the Data Access Bill- full steam ahead for the Surveillance State

Last week Apple rolled over to a government demand to remove ADP (Advanced Data Protection) for users in the UK. In simple terms, this means that anything stored or passing through an Apple device in the UK is no longer encrypted: i.e. completely free to access not only by law enforcement and The State, but private criminals with even a basic understanding of technology.

In the background, Labour have also been pushing the "Data Use and Access Bill," (an add-on to the Orwellian Online "Safety" Act) which will purportedly boost economic growth and improve public services.

One of the main provisions of The "Data Use and Access Bill" is that police services will no longer be required to log the reasons why they access personal data. Yes, you read that correctly- Two Tier Kier is now not only permitting the police to access our documents and communications, but to do so without justifying themselves. Interesting timing given what has just happened to Apple.

The bill is also designed with Digital ID mind, creating a "national digital identity framework" which links biometric identity to financial transactions. Further still, provisions for "Automated Decision Making" will result in artificial intelligence making decisions with no human input whatsoever - decisions on whether an individual should have access to certain public services for example.

To add insult to injury, on Saturday The Telegraph reported that the Labour government have just awarded a £2.3m contract to Faculty AI to build monitoring software for the purpose of "analysing social media narratives." This comes under the purview of the Stalinist "Counter Disinformation Unit" which spied on opponents of lockdown during the pandemic.

These encroachments on our privacy and liberty are a direct consequence of the "if you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide" mentality.

They are direct consequence of the naive belief that The State has our best interests at heart, that such tools are necessary in their hunt for terrorists and paedophiles. If it's only the baddies they're after, why then does the Data Use and Access Bill remove the requirement to justify the seizure of personal data? As already seen in China, it is not criminals - but journalists, dissidents, and the marginalised who suffer when encryption is removed.

These encroachments on our privacy and liberty get worse day by day- The Surveillance State is here.

Only The Libertarian Party will dismantle it in full, scrapping The Online "Safety" Act, The Data Use and Access Bill, The Investigatory Powers Act and enshrining the individual's right to encrypted communications in law in a written constitution.