EU calls for privacy-security balance on message encryption

Head of European Union says ‘there is a fine line’ between need for safety and protection of privacy

The European Union’s presidency says people’s privacy must be protected following British calls for police access to encrypted messages in case of attacks.

Maltese Interior Minister Carmelo Abela said Monday “there is a fine line here. We need to of course protect the privacy of the people but we also have to protect the security of the people.”

British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Sunday that “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.”

British press reports suggest that London attacker Khalid Masood sent a WhatsApp message just minutes before the Wednesday rampage that left three pedestrians and one police officer dead and dozens more wounded. The message that can’t be accessed because it was encrypted.

Abela said that EU states and internet providers should continue talks to establish the right security-privacy balance.

As controversy swirled over the encrypted messages, police made another arrest in Birmingham, England, where Masood had lived. The 30-year-old is one of two men now in custody over possible links to the attack. Neither has been charged or publicly named.

Masood was shot dead on the grounds of Parliament.

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

In this March 22, 2017 photo, Khalid Masood is treated by emergency services after a fatal attack outside the Houses of Parliament, London. British Police named Masood on March 23, 2017, as the terrorist who carried out the attack. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP).

Police 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 warrants similar to the ones used to listen in on telephone calls or — in snail mail days — to 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 about setting 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.