UK’s Home Secretary admits she does not understand encryption

Wants it combatted anyway

The UK Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, has admitted that she doesn’t understand end-to-end encryption, but still wants to “to find the best way to combat” it.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference, where no one is young enough, or clever enough to understand it either, Rudd claimed Silicon Valley had a “moral obligation” to help fight  crime and terrorism. Apparently encryption technology is only used by terrorists.

Rudd is delightfully clueless when it comes to computing and has a habit of changing her mind on things when she releases that she might have got it wrong the first time.

She once called for back doors into systems such as WhatsApp, but has since changed her mind. She also called for encryption to be purged, and now she does not want to ban encryption.

Saying “I don’t need to understand how encryption works to understand how it’s helping — end-to-end encryption — the criminals”, she added.

What she wants is technology firms to make it easier for police and security services to access encrypted data.

The Home Secretary was asked by an audience member whether she understands how end-to-end encryption works. She replied: “It’s so easy to be patronised in this business. We will do our best to understand it.”

We think that means “no”.

However, she said she does not need to know how encryption works to understand how it’s helping the criminals. Rudd could have got an inkling when she was a director of a BahamasTax Haven company. 

“I will engage with the security services to find the best way to combat that. I am not suggesting you give us the code. I understand the principle of end-to-end encryption — it can’t be unwrapped. That’s what has been developed. What I am saying is the companies who are developing that should work with us.”

And do what exactly?

Answers on the back of a postcard to Amber Rudd C/O the British government.,