WhatsApp, iMessage, FaceTime, Snapchat And Other Encrypted Messages Are Likely To Get Banned In The UK.

WhatsApp, iMessage, FaceTime and Snapchat may all get banned in the U.K.as these encrypted messaging apps do not allow authorities to access the messages that are exchanged by the users. The Independent states that the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, is going to block all these apps if he wins the upcoming election. The news about bolstering the security of the country was declared by the Prime Minister after the recent terror attacks in Paris that resulted in the death of 17 people.

For investigation purposes, with a warrant, security agencies can easily access phone calls. However, the texts and content exchanged by using aforementioned apps are unreadable to any person except the senders and receivers, states The Independent. According to the Prime Minister of the U.K., the applications that send and receive encrypted messages can be misused by terrorist and criminals. Hence, he said that security officials should be allowed to read them to prevent terror attacks.

If David Cameron will be voted as Prime Minister again in May, he is likely to impose a law to ban WhatsApp, iMessage, FaceTime, Snapchat and other encrypted messaging apps if they do not allow authorities to access the contents of exchanged messages by the user. ArtsTechnica states that several suspected terrorist in Spain were taken into custody as they were found to be using emails with high level security measures like RISE UP servers.

Encryption has become a hot topic as many leading companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google and Yahoo have come together to protect user's digital privacy. WhatsApp too joined the suit by offering end-to-end encryption by late last year, reports The Next Web. It further adds that even though the government considers banning the apps or remove them from the app stores, since these apps are immensely popular, users will soon find other ways to use them.

What do you think about banning apps like WhatsApp and iMessage as they do not allow security officials to access them? Do let us know your thoughts through comments.

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