British PM Wants to Ban WhatsApp, iMessage Under New Surveillance Plans

MOSCOW, January 13 (Sputnik) – As the British general election campaign begins and tension over the Paris shootings remains high, British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed his interest to ban communication services like Snapchat, WhatsApp and iMessage because he feels that the encrypted messages used by these services possess a threat, The Independent reports.

The Prime Minister wants to ban these services, used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, in an attempt to open up all forms of online communication to the security services.

Snapchat, WhatsApp and Apple's iMessage all encode their messages making it impossible for governments to look at them.

Cameron said: “In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which […] we cannot read?”

At present, government departments like the Police and MI5 need written permission from the Home Secretary to look at a person's online data, reports Huffington Post.

But companies such as WhatsApp have remained devoted to keeping their services encrypted and unable to be read by authorities following the Edward Snowden revelations.

Hence, David Cameron could possibly block WhatsApp and Snapchat if he wins the next election, as part of his plans for new surveillance control, reports The Independent.

How such a ban on so many popular services would be implemented remains unclear. The services concerned are yet to comment, reports Fairfax NZ.