On Tue, 12 Dec 2017 16:05:41 +0000 Phil Thane phil@pthane.co.uk allegedly wrote:

I've been having 'fun' corresponding with my MP (Burt, con) and our much-loved Home Secretary about her plans to ban encrypted messaging. The gist is here, with links:

https://pthane.co.uk/blog/

Scroll back a bit for the first installment.

Feel free to register and comment, I don't claim to be an expert, I could well be wrong, but it seems I know more that the Home Office.

Phil

I'm not surprised at the response. The Home Office has been particularly hawkish about e-to-e encryption for several years (but don't make the mistake of assumimg that they don't understand the issues - they do. And so do the Security Service.) The HO has had a real problem ever since Charles Farr was Director of OSCT there from 2007. Farr is not well liked. In my view he is dangerous and overly zealous. Unfortunately he is currently Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee which makes him a man to worry about.

There are more sane views around, but people like Farr are very, very good at manipulating politicians (who often, like Rudd, genuinely do not understand the issues and "trust the experts"). Rudd is no worse than any other Home Secretary of recent times, simply a little less intelligent.

I too have written an open letter to her on my blog (only partly seriously, I do not expect any response) and I have blogged extensively about the iniquity of the Investigatory Powers Act (and how to circumvent it - see for example http://baldric.net/2017/05/12/using-a-vpn-to-take-back-your-privacy/).

I used to be a Civil Servant (before retirement) and I know how the communication with Ministers system works. If you write directly to a Minister, you will get a letter back from a Civil Servant (the letter is handled as "treat official"). If you write the same letter to your MP, that MP will pass the letter to the responsible Department and you will get a letter (as you did) back written by the same Civil Servant, but signed by the responsible Minster. So at least in the latter case, the Minister gets to see the letter and, if there are enough of them, can get a feel for how many people (few, far too few) care about the issue.

Best

Mick

(Oh, BTW, forgive me for not commenting directly on your on your blog. I refuse to do so if the blog in question requires me to "sign in", or "have an account". A personal ideosyncracy..... )

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