Why Weakening Encryption Endangers The Most Vulnerable
Weakening encryption doesn’t just threaten privacy—it threatens equality. When governments demand backdoors, they aren’t just targeting criminals; they’re putting the most vulnerable at risk.
On the 7th February 2025, TechCrunch reported that the UK Government had asked Apple to insert a “backdoor” into its end-to-end encrypted storage service, presumably so UK security forces could access users' data. According to the report, Apple has refused to comply, and as a result, will likely remove the service from the UK altogether.
Although the British Government often gives the public ways to question the fact; it is not naive. It has access to moderately priced security advisors, who are aware that secure backdoors in encryption are a myth, based in reality only so far as the tooth fairy is.
They will also be aware that in a world where data is increasingly encrypted, security forces have adapted. Threat detection no longer relies on reading messages directly. It relies on Metadata analysis, traffic patterns and non-content signals to track threats in real time.
This is not about security. It is about control and precedent.
By refusing to comply, Apple is (perhaps inadvertently) protecting some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
Encryption As A Lifeline
End-to-end encryption is not just a tool for privacy, it’s a lifeline for those at risk. Survivors of domestic abuse, journalists exposing corruption, activists in authorial states and marginalised communities all depend on secure communication to protect themselves from harm and take back autonomy.
Governments argue that encryption helps criminals evade law enforcement, and in some cases this is true. Terrorists, organised crime networks and child exploitation rings do use encrypted platforms. However, weakened encryption does not just affect them. It affects everyone.
You can’t have a backdoor that’s only for the good guys. Tim Cook
History has shown that once encryption is weakened, it’s not only law enforcement that gains access. Cyber criminals, foreign governments, corrupt officials; will all exploit these vulnerabilities.
Consider the 2019 WhatsApp security scandal. Where a flaw in WhatsApp encryption was exploited by Israeli spyware company NSO group to hack journalists, activists and dissidents. Government mandated back doors would make events like this more common place.
A global trend towards control
The urgency of this issue is heightened by the current political climate. Across the world, we are seeing a sharp turn towards authoritarianism. The far right is gaining power, often by large electoral margins.
Recent events across the Atlantic have shown how those in power can manipulate access to information and technology to consolidate power, and marginalise minorities.
In January 2025, we have watched one of the most “developed” countries in the world make decisions that strip rights from, and persecute black communities, trans individuals, other members of the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as the disabled.
These trends are spreading. With the right currently polling ahead of the incumbent government in the UK, and posing serious opposition in Europe.
Privacy is for the powerless. Transparency is for the powerful. Edward Snowden.
Increasingly marginalised groups need protection from their own government. Who at best seem to have a marked indifference to doing the work that protects the aforementioned communities.
In 2021, a report revealed that US law enforcement agencies used secret surveillance programmes to monitor black life’s matter protestors. Police departments purchased private location data from apps, allowing them to track movements without warrants - effectively passing legal safeguarding.
If encryption is weakened. These abuses will become easier. Not harder.
The stakes are so very high
Governments do not need unrestricted access to encrypted data to track threats and keep the public safe. By demanding a back door, they are not just asking for a tool against terrorists. They are calling big tech to heal, and asking for control of the data of ordinary citizens.
The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. George Orwell.
Even in the so called 'developed world', we are seeing how people are increasingly in need of protection from their own governments.
Encryption must remain untouchable. Not just for privacy, but for protection - especially for those who need it the most.
Actions we can take
If we allow governments to weaken encryption in the name of security, we open the door to widespread surveillance, data breaches and human rights offences.
Here are steps everyone can take to fight back;
Support privacy-focused legislation; push for laws that protect strong encryption and prevent government overreach. Tell your local politician that this matters.
Hold big tech accountable; demand big tech resist back door mandates and prioritise your data’s security. Vote with your feet and choose service providers that stand firm against governmental pressure.
Use end-to-end encrypted services; services such as Signal & Proton Mail. The latter of whom has email servers buried under a mountain in the Swiss alps, with some of the strictest data privacy laws in the world.
Educate others; spread awareness of the importance of encryption in protecting vulnerable individuals. Many do not realise that weakened encryption puts everyone at risk, not just those under surveillance.
Finally, always remind people to look up who they are paraphrasing when they tell you nothing to hide, nothing to fear.
A final warning
Governments will always use security as an excuse to expand their power. But history has shown how once those powers are granted, they are rarely just used against criminals.
If privacy is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy. Phillip Zimmerman.
In 2013 Edward Snowden revealed how the NSA’s mass surveillance programme. Initially justified as a counterterrorist measure was used to spy on journalists, foreign allies and activists.
The same pattern repeats time and again - power taken in the name of security is eventually turned on ordinary citizens.
This is not just a technology issue, this is a civil rights issue.
The people who need encryption the most are those with the least power to fight back. The British Government would do well to remember this, and who they serve, when taking away rights under the guise of national security.
