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Most EU countries support a proposal to scan encrypted messages, a leaked document has revealed.
Spain’s view appeared to be the most extreme, with the country’s leaders apparently viewing access to citizens’ data as “essential” to allow authorities to catch criminals in the virtual world.
End-to-end encryption (E2E) – the core on which security software like VPN services and secure messaging apps are built – is virtually under attack everywhere. In the European Union, so-called chat controls seek to force providers to create an entry-point for law enforcement bodies to scan encrypted communications. Cryptographers and privacy advocates continue to strongly oppose such provisions.
Chat controls: 15 out of 20 EU countries are in favor
“Not only would breaking end-to-end encryption for everyone be disproportionate, it would be ineffective in achieving the goal of protecting children,” said Iverna McGowan, secretary general of the European branch of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Reviewing the leaked document.
In fact, many experts are arguing that weak encryption will actually make the online world more dangerous for criminals to exploit and limit the right to privacy for everyone.
McGowan specifically noted the varied responses given by leaders of the European Union to a series of questions on the matter. Results April 12, 2023 – Count nearly 15 of the 20 countries interviewed favor breaking encryption in at least some form.
Spain was not only the strongest fan of the bill, but also argued how EU-based providers should ideally be prevented from implementing E2E in the first place. A similar stance was taken by Poland, which suggested that parents should have the power to decrypt children’s chats. Other supporters of the chat control proposal include Cyprus, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania.
Unsurprisingly, the news was received with anger by users voicing their discontent online. Below is a Reddit conversation as an example of the many comments of dissent currently running on social media.
Comment from r/privacy
On more moderate views, we found Ireland and Denmark. While supporting the scanning of encrypted messages in search of child sexual abuse material, they call for legislation to include some wording to ensure that E2E is not vulnerable. Similarly, the Netherlands proposed some “on-device solutions” instead to detect harmful content before it is encrypted and sent to other users.
However, this is something that experts continue to say is technically impossible. Tutanota co-founder Arne Mohle told TechRadar, “Politicians still believe they can have a ‘magic key’ to access encrypted communications—completely ignoring the technical background.”
“As cryptography experts we have to explain this again and again: if the EU weakens encryption to prosecute criminals, it will destroy online security for all 450 million EU citizens.”
Despite being only a minority, a handful of EU countries have expressed their concern over the unintended consequences of reducing the security of encryption.
According to Italy, such a law “would represent a generalized control over all encrypted correspondence sent via the web.” Italian experts also pointed to its potential inefficiency due to the struggle to handle such a large amount of material, which could also lead to too many false positives.
At the same time Estonia asked not to support the creation of “backdoor to end-to-end encryption solutions”. Finland and Germany have also ruled out the possibility of constraining encryption in any way, urging EU lawmakers to modify the bill accordingly before moving to the next stage.
The Guardian reports that another leak, coming from internal EU legal advice, shows lawyers raising significant doubts about the legality of proposed chat controls.
A global fight against encryption
As mentioned earlier, the EU is not ready to sacrifice encrypted communications just in the name of a Safe Internet.
In the UK, the Online Safety Bill is currently making its way through Parliament. Many are voicing their discontent so far, with the most popular encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Signal threatening to leave the UK if the bill becomes law.
The EARN IT Act is seeking to enact some similar regulation in the US, a country already infamous for failing to effectively protect the privacy of people online. Digital rights advocacy at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called on people to pledge to oppose the bill, commenting, “The idea of millions of people being falsely accused of child abuse is appalling.”
The tension between online security and users’ privacy has escalated in the world’s largest democracy. Earlier this month, India blocked 14 encrypted apps because they were allegedly being used by terrorists across the country.
Dennis Almeida, head of policy and compliance at Element—one of the banned services—told TechRadar: “The fact that this type of ban is even possible in one of the world’s largest democracies is particularly worrying and a Sets a very dangerous precedent.”
