Signal slams UK for “dystopian” device scanning
Signal says the UK’s demands to scan, detect, and block nude images are dystopian. The Home Office says big tech companies like Google and Apple have just three months to comply.
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Signal says the UK’s demands to scan, detect, and block nude images are dystopian. The Home Office says big tech companies like Google and Apple have just 3 months to comply.
- The UK government wants Apple, Google, and other tech firms to stop children from taking, sharing, or viewing nude images on their devices.
- Companies have been given three months to act. If they do not comply, the Home Office says new laws could force them to do so, with fines and penalties for failure.
- The government says the goal is to protect children from coercion, sextortion, and predators, while adults would still be able to access nude content after age verification.
- Signal argues the plan is dangerous because it could weaken privacy, normalize device scanning, and increase big tech control over personal information.
- Signal warns that once these systems exist, they could expand beyond child protection and become tools for broader censorship and surveillance in the UK and elsewhere.
In a further push to protect children online, the UK Home Office released a statement demanding that big tech companies like Apple and Google “activate built-in safeguards” on
their smartphones and tablets.
The UK government has promised that “Britain will become the first country in the world where it is impossible for children to take, share, or view naked pictures on their devices.”
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Through age verification, which is already established in the country, adults will still be able to view and share nude content – once they’ve verified they’re of age.
Big tech has been warned – if they “do not act within 3 months,” legislation will be put in place that will force them to comply – otherwise they face fines and penalties.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood claims that this is a sincere effort to protect children from predators.
“I make no apologies for doing the right thing to protect children from paedophiles. This is about stopping the coercion and sextortion of children, or surveilling or policing people’s phones.”
However, Signal has called the UK government’s bluff, stating that this move will “endanger us all.”
While children “deserve to be safe, protected, and nurtured…they do not deserve surveillance, funding cuts, and cover-ups.”
This endangerment comes from weakening privacy while strengthening big tech’s control over our personal information, according to Signal.
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Forcing everyone in the UK to prove they’re of age or consent to having their device scanned in order to communicate is described by Signal as a “perilous proposition.”
This isn’t simply an isolated incident, as over time, the UK will create more rules that will negatively affect the public.
“Once created, they will be expanded, forming a dangerous tool that will be wielded both in the UK and abroad to censor and surveil whatever they might consider threats or harmful content.”
The privacy-first tech company urges users to learn from history and to witness this event as the emergence of something authoritarian.
“We know from history that once in place, there will be an inevitable authoritarian expansion of the kind of content and people these technologies will be expected to surveil.”
Apple is demonstrating its compliance by previewing a “new suite of powerful, intuitive, and easy-to-use features” that help parents protect their children from harmful content or nude imagery.
While other tech companies, like Google, can activate features like sensitive content warnings on Google Messages, they are accused of applying them inconsistently.
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