Apple CEO, Tim Cook has warned that new plans to force companies to unlock encrypted communication systems will have "dire consequences" for security, and privacy.
"If you halt or weaken encryption, the people that you hurt are not the folks that want to do bad things. It’s the good people. The other people know where to go," he said in an interview with The Telegraph.
A draft bill, which is know as the Investigatory Powers bill, will create 'back doors' into computer communications to facilitate State surveillance. The Apple boss warned that any weakening of encrypted systems can be exploited by groups hoping to cause harm:
“They can not only result in privacy breaches but also security issues. We believe very strongly in end-to-end encryption and no back doors. We don’t think people want us to read their messages. We don’t feel we have the right to read their emails," he said.
Adding, “Any back door is a back door for everyone."
The proposed changes have also been criticised by the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowdon.
He said that the bill would give State agencies access to, “the activity log of your life.”
Under the new rules companies would be required to store details of all of the websites visited by individual users for one year.
The bill also targets encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp and Apple's iMessenger.
Edward Snowden exposed details of existing and non-legislated digital surveillance practices being used by both the NSA and the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
