According to Edward Snowden, the UK government wants to have access to all communications “that citizens actually use.”
The former NSA agent used Twitter to criticize comments from Baroness Shields, the UK's minister for internet security, about her position on encrypted data.
Shields said the government did not want to introduce backdoors that would allow security agencies to access encrypted information, but as Snowden argued, the proposed warrants for data access were in fact about using a backdoor.
“This is not about creating backdoors, it is about companies being able to access communications related to their network when presented with a warrant,” Shields told the House of Lords when asked about cybersecurity. She went on to say that there was “no intention” for the government to introduce new ways that would weaken encryption or use backdoors.
But Snowden stated that the government did indeed intend to introduce backdoors, claiming that their position was in fact: "Of course we want backdoors, but only for the communications that citizens actually use.".
Rather than weakening encryption, the UK government is expected to strengthen its power and increase its involvement in more circumstances where it can obtain a warrant to access communications data from businesses.
However, the complainant claimed that a backdoor is a way to “provide covert access” to communications, which are theoretically confidential. “It has nothing to do with issuing a warrant,” he said.
