UK Aggressively Moves Against Online Speech & Digital Privacy

For Americans, the failed pandemic response of the last four years was the excuse for massive government overreach and proof that the ever-encroching move against free speech and privacy throughout time is always one event away from being implemented.

While the U.S. appears to be gasping its first breaths of fresh First Amendment air in the realm of free speech after being held underwater by past Biden administration demands, gleefully assisted by Big Tech, regulatory agencies and NGO’s, the rest of the world isn’t stopping its push to censor citizens.

Currently, UK officials have a jaw-dropping demand of Apple. Create a back door allowing their government to retrieve all content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud – even U.S. citizens. Remember, most people’s data is automatically backed up on the cloud if they use Apple products.

The move has no known precedent in major democracies. The British government’s undisclosed order requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material.

According to the Washington Post, the Trump White House and U.S. intelligence officials declined to comment?

Why?

There is a major opportunity for the U.S., through whatever government mouthpiece it should so choose, to draw their line in the free speech and privacy sand. To give the public and the world the assurance that America is the home of free expression and individual privacy where government overreach no longer has a place.

Meanwhile, just two months ago against a barrage of unstoppable Chinese hacking of U.S. tech and telecommunications infrastructure, CISA “warned concerned users to turn to encrypted messages and voice calls and giving no timeline for securing carriers.”

CISA, America’s cyber defense agency, also warned domestic network engineers to “Ensure that traffic is end-to-end encrypted to the maximum extent possible” to protect against the People’s Republic of China-affiliated threat actors actively compromising networks of major global telecommunications.

Yet the UK government ‘security forces’ with their authoritative demands appear to be assisting, even siding ideologically, with Chinese threat actors to allow easier access to their citizens’ secure data.

Why?

The creepy factor goes further when we dig into the UK’s sweeping legal notice served on Apple under the U.K. Investigatory Powers Act of 2016. Apple would be barred from warning its users that their encryption no longer protects them. It would be a criminal offense to reveal that the government has even made such a demand of their private data.

“Apple can appeal the U.K. capability notice to a secret technical panel, which would consider arguments about the expense of the requirement, and to a judge who would weigh whether the request was in proportion to the government’s needs. But the law does not permit Apple to delay complying during an appeal.” writes the Washington Post.

Google and Meta spokespeople have both declined to comment on whether they have received similar government requests.

A recent Google announcement further shapes an uncomfortable global direction forming.

The UK’s slide into massive authoritarian territory hit breakaway speed during the local uprisings against migrant crime last summer. After the MET police chief threaten UK, and U.S., citizens that they would come after those making social media comments the government didn’t like [WATCH VIDEO BELOW]

Making good on their promise, and signaling to the world their exit from any hope of a free democracy, the UK then began arresting people for their social media comments – a new low for the country.

Imagine what the UK government will do with free access to everyone’s personal data? Once the backdoors are built to allow any one government bulk access to individual user data for whatever purpose, it’s simply a matter of Apple, Google, Meta, etc. flipping a switch when prompted by the demands of a unhinged government.

Could America begin to apply political, economic or threaten strategic alliances against countries who no longer respect free speech and individual rights (privacy). Here’s American Vice President JD Vance speaking on this possibility: