| answer text |
<p>The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 allows the Government to place obligations on
telecommunications operators or postal operators through a Technical Capability Notice.</p><p>The
Act governs these notices and provides extensive privacy safeguards and a robust oversight
regime, including approval of notices by an independent Judicial Commissioner.</p><p>The
respective Codes of Practice for the Interception of Communications, Communications
Data and Equipment Interference set out that the Secretary of State may give a relevant
telecommunications operator or postal operator a Technical Capability Notice, the
purpose of which is to maintain a technical capability to ensure when a warrant is
served or authorisation or notice is given, companies can give effect to it securely
and quickly.</p><p>For reasons of national security, it would not be appropriate to
disclose the number of Technical Capability Notices, or the specific circumstances
in which they may be issued.</p><p>The UK Government has set out, in detail, how these
particular powers can be used, including through the Written testimony of the Director
of National Security to the US Senate Judiciary Committee on 10 December 2019. This
Testimony can be read in full here:</p><p>https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-letter-to-mark-zuckerberg/written-testimony-of-chloe-squires-director-national-security-home-office</p><p>The
Testimony details the potentially catastrophic impact on public safety where companies
deploy end-to-end encryption in such a way that precludes access to the content of
their users’ communications under any circumstances. It makes clear that we believe
that the only way to make progress on this shared challenge is to engender ongoing,
detailed dialogue with tech companies that focuses on reasonable proposals. We believe
such engagement is likely to identify opportunities that, without compromising the
wider safety and security of systems for lawful users, can provide ways to gain specific,
targeted and lawful access to information about what terrorists, child sex abusers
and the perpetrators of other serious crimes are doing online.</p><p>The international
statement on end-to-end encryption and public safety, published on 11 October, affirms
this position. It calls on tech companies to work with governments to find solutions
to ensure the safety of our citizens without eroding user privacy or cyber security.</p>
|
|
