UK wants backdoor access to WhatsApp in wake of London Attack

[Razer]

After all, that's so much simpler than refusing to be Airstrip One for
the US Empire.


UK: Attacker used WhatsApp, firm must help police get access

Mar. 26, 2017 | 05:28 PM

Associated Press via Lebanon Daily Star

LONDON: Westminster Bridge attacker Khalid Masood sent a WhatsApp
message that cannot be accessed because it was encrypted by the popular
messaging service, a top British security official said Sunday.

British press reports suggest Masood used the easily available messaging
service just minutes before starting a rampage Wednesday that left three
pedestrians and one police officer dead and dozens more wounded,
including some with catastrophic injuries.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd used appearances on BBC and Sky News to urge
WhatsApp and other encrypted services to make their platforms accessible
to intelligence services and police trying to carrying out lawful
eavesdropping.

"We need to make sure that organizations like WhatsApp - and there are
plenty of others like that - don't provide a secret place for terrorists
to communicate with each other," she said.

Rudd did not provide any details about Masood's use of WhatsApp, saying
only "this terrorist sent a WhatsApp message and it can't be accessed."

But her call for a "back door" system to allow authorities to access
information is likely to be met with resistance throughout the industry.
In the United States, Apple fought the FBI's request for the passcodes
needed to unlock an iPhone that had been used by one of the perpetrators
in the 2015 extremist attack on San Bernardino, California.

Masood drove a rented SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before
smashing it into Parliament's gates and rushing onto the grounds, where
he stabbed a policeman to death before he was shot dead. A detailed
police reconstruction has found the entire attack lasted 82 seconds.

Police say he acted alone but they are trying to pinpoint his motive and
identify any possible accomplices, making the WhatsApp message a
potential clue to his state of mind and his social media contacts.

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.

Without a change in the system, she said terrorists would be able to
communicate with each other without fear of being overheard even in
cases where a legal warrant has been obtained.

Rudd also urged technology companies to do a better job at preventing
the publication of material that promotes extremism. She plans to meet
with firms Thursday in a bid to set up an industry board that would take
steps to make the web less useful to extremists.

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."

ISIS, which is losing territory in Iraq and Syria but still has radical
followers in other parts of the world, has claimed Masood was a
"soldier" carrying out its wishes to attack Western countries.

Masood had convictions for violent crimes in the U.K. and spent time in
prison. He also worked in Saudi Arabia teaching English for two years
and traveled there again in 2015 on a visa designed for religious
pilgrimages.

One 58-year-old man remains in custody in the case after being arrested
in Birmingham, where Masood had been living. He has not been charged or
named. Nine others arrested after the assault have been freed without
charges and one has been freed on bail.

The family of slain police officer Keith Palmer, meanwhile, released a
statement thanking those who tried to save his life.

"There was nothing more you could have done. You did your best and we
are just grateful he was not alone," the statement said.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/World/2017/Mar-26/399279-uk-attacker-used-whatsapp-firm-must-help-police-get-access.ashx