Help us fight the paedophiles and terrorists, Rudd tells online giants
FACEBOOK and US technology giants that are keeping the “security services at bay” have a “moral responsibility” to stop terrorists and paedophiles from using their websites, the Home Secretary has said.
Speaking ahead of her keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference today, Ms Rudd claimed that military-grade encryption on services such as Whatsapp gave criminals a safe space to exchange messages.
She said it was “unacceptable” that the companies were failing to help the Government access information that could stop terror plots or prevent the exchange of “vile, horrendous images” by groups of paedophiles.
The Home Secretary also said that internet giants needed to spend more on artificial intelligence that flags criminal material and stops it being posted on their platforms.
She told a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference: “I do think that the principle holds that it is lawful to gain access to information when it is properly warranted and we’re looking at criminals, terrorists and paedophiles, and the fact that businesses are developing services which keep the security services at bay is unacceptable.
“Companies, take responsibility for what is happening on your platforms. You have designed a platform which allows terrorists, paedophiles and others to communicate with each other. Help us around the edges of it so we can lawfully access this information.”
She said she was not proposing to ban end-to-end encryption, which means that only those sending and receiving messages can see them, but urged companies to “work with us”.
Mrs Rudd said that of the 12 attempted terrorist plots in the UK this year, most had a “digital element”.
She said: “Our enemy, Daesh particularly, sends out its messages, for people to take up arms against us, over the internet. The scale of what they put up is remarkable and sophisticated and it gets circulated quickly.
“This year we have had 12 attempted terrorist plots, of which five got through… Each of these – most of these – have had some digital element to it. We know that the bomber here in Man- chester in May, was radicalised over the internet. We think there is more internet companies can do to stop this happening. They need to take some moral responsibility for the fact their platforms are being used in this way.
“Specifically, what we are asking them to do is to make sure machine learning applies to tracking down terrorist activity before it goes up.”
She said that internet giants do have the ability to help the Government, but have only done so after terror attacks have taken place.
She said: “We can’t be the ones to tell them to take it down. We need them to work together to make sure it doesn’t go out.”
David Anderson, the former terror legislation watchdog, said that the security services were locked in an “arms race” with technology companies to try to get around encryption.
Michael Beckerman, President of the Internet Association which represents the technology giants, said they all took their responsibilities seriously.
“However, it is important to recognise that the challenges don’t exist only online. We are part of the solution but we are not the only solution,” he said.
“Strong encryption is part of national security and safety. It protects our infrastructure, banking system, every one of us. Creating back doors, windows or special keys can end up in the hands of the bad guys.”