The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has released a new paper setting out a clearer framework for analysing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and its effects on online safety.

A summary of the current situation with regards to E2EE is included in the paper, as well as deeper discussion around the ICO’s support for expansion of E2EE governance.

The ICO said it recognises that E2EE “raises challenging questions” for online safety, which is being increasingly put at risk by the expansion of the internet and increased use of social media.

It is vital that the regulation of personal data processing is maintained, the organisation stated, and that any approach to E2EE seeks to “reconcile addressing the immediate harms with longer term privacy and safety impacts”.

End to end encryption is seen as vital to citizens and industry due to the security, safety and trust generated through the technology, as well as the wider benefits that private spaces provide.

In a statement, the ICO said: “We believe that E2EE is central to a safe and private online experience and benefits citizens and businesses. It enables privacy, and privacy is also safety.”

The ICO added: “It is an essential component of a safe digital ecosystem, providing safety for users online, including protection against exposure to harmful content and activity.”

Privacy and child safety have become important talking points in terms of staying safe online, particularly during the pandemic where people have moved their daily lives onto digital platforms.

A report from the Children’s Commissioner Office (CCO) in December 2020 found that the use of end-to-end encryption by messaging services is putting children at risk.

Around 90% of children aged 8-17 use services that offer end-to-end encryption, such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, the report said. This includes a significant number of children under the apps’ recommended age limits.

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“E2EE raises challenging questions for online safety which we continue to consider given the context in which we regulate the processing of personal data,” the ICO stated in its latest paper.

“It is important that any approach to E2EE seeks to reconcile addressing the immediate harms with longer term privacy and safety impacts.”

E2EE is “central to a safe and private online experience and benefits citizens and businesses,” the ICO continued, and it “enables privacy, and privacy is also safety”.

The privacy and safety of children safety are critical, the ICO stated, but achieving these objectives needs to be “reconciled rather than put at odds”.

The organisation said that it does “not see value in proposals that seek to weaken E2EE,” but that it does see value in “accelerating innovations” that allow the detection of harmful content without compromising privacy.

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