On Sun, Mar 26, 2017 at 4:15 PM, Razer <[1]g2s@riseup.net> wrote:

     Rudd said attacks like Masood's would be easier to prevent if
     authorities could penetrate encrypted services after obtaining a
     warrant
     similar to the ones used to listen in on telephone calls or - in
     snail
     mail days - steam open letters and read their contents.

   I saw this same claim in a story elsewhere.
   Apparently he sent the WhatsApp message 2 minutes before the attack
   started. Seems unlikely that a letter sent minutes
   before would be found and steamed open in time to stop the attack
   (unless the culprit is being actively followed).
   Similarly, unless they're actively watching the guy's WhatsApp (and
   from other reporting, it sounds like they were aware
   of him, but he wasn't of much interest and wasn't under surveillance),
   it still wouldn't have stopped the attack. 2 minutes
   notice is better than nothing, but it's still not a lot of time to
   deploy countermeasures, especially given he's unlikely to have
   sent details of his plan in that message. It's more likely to be a
   confirmation that he was about to proceed.
   Access is obviously more helpful in the post-mortem, and when looking
   for co-conspirators who might be planning another
   attack, but it's still a case of fucking everyone over in order to spy
   on a few (assuming it even stays that well constrained).

     British police investigating the attack say they still believe
     Masood, a
     52-year-old Briton, acted alone and say they have no indications
     that
     further attacks are planned.

     Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said it may never be
     possible to
     fully determine Masood's motives.
     "That understanding may have died with him," Basu said Saturday
     night as
     police appealed for people who knew Masood or saw him to contact
     investigators. "Even if he acted alone in the preparation, we need
     to
     establish with absolute clarity why he did these unspeakable acts,
     to
     bring reassurance to Londoners."

   So there's a reasonable chance he didn't communicate anything useful to
   anyone else, so there might not be much
   they could have detected even with access. Again, fucking everyone over
   to try and target a few, potentially with no
   gain at the end of it.
   --
   Ben Tasker
   [2]https://www.bentasker.co.uk

References

   1. mailto:g2s@riseup.net
   2. https://www.bentasker.co.uk/