This week British Prime Minister David Cameron proposed a plan that would require American social media companies to offer information for British Intelligence Agencies with a goal of flushing out terrorist organizations that utilize online media services for communication. So far President Obama is remaining silent, even as Cameron and Obama pledged to work together towards a goal of ending domestic terrorism in their meeting Friday, in Washington D.C.
Cameron’s proposal is that communication companies, like Facebook and Twitter, first collect private communications, then share that information with British Intelligence through the Government Communication Headquarters.
Without a push by Obama to ensure that these firms cooperate with Cameron, it is likely to fail, as the most widely used social media websites and messaging services are hosted within the U.S.
Newer encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp and Snapchat are being characterized by Cameron as dangerous to the security of British citizens and remarks by Cameron have alluded to his desire to fully ban those message services in Britain if they fail to cooperate in his government’s effort to collect possible terrorist communications.
Obama has spoken even this week about the need to enhance U.S. cyber security following various small level attacks on government, military, and private internet social media accounts.
Obama and Cameron have shared a friendly relationship during their time in office, and Cameron’s trip to the U.S. has been seen as some as a help to his re-election campaign, but it is unclear at this time whether Obama will back Cameron’s plan. If Obama were to do so, there would most likely be protest from first amendment advocates across the U.S. that have regularly lobbied for the government to keep out of the workings of social media.
TMN will be following developments closely in the coming weeks.