The European Court of Human Rights has banned all legal efforts to weaken encryption of secure communications in Europe.
Encryption guarantees the enjoyment of fundamental rights such as privacy and freedom of expression, according to the ruling, while helping citizens and companies defend themselves against abuses of information technologies. Hence the decision to ban legislation that could open back doors for criminals to exploit.
The decision was greeted with enthusiasm by privacy experts who have long called on the EU Commission to withdraw its CSAM scanning proposal, known as Chat Control, which planned to allow authorities to scan all private communications of citizens. to stop the spread of dangerous content.
EU chat control banned
“With this historic and notable ruling, the 'client-side scanning' surveillance on all smartphones proposed by the EU Commission in its Chat Control bill is clearly illegal. It would destroy everyone's protection instead to investigate the suspects,” commented the European Parliament and Digital Freedom defender Patrick Breyer of the Pirate Party.
“EU governments will now have no choice but to remove from their position on this proposal the destruction of secure encryption, as well as the indiscriminate surveillance of the private communications of the entire population,” he added.
In October last year, the EU Parliament already reached a historic agreement calling for the removal of the dangerous provision from the EU's proposed scanning of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Reiterating privacy as a fundamental right, the decision was also made to safeguard online security and encryption on that occasion.
However, Chat Control was still on the table, at least until now.
🇬🇧 The ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on the right to #EndToEndEncryption #E2EE is a victory for civil liberties! EU governments must finally remove the proposed destruction of secure encryption from the #ChatControl 2.0 bill! pic.twitter.com/XDOT4C9vEKFebruary 14, 2024
From the beginning, technology companies that use encryption to create software (including VPN service providers and messaging apps) argued that weakening encryption to catch criminals was a terrible idea.
VPN provider Mullvad VPN was quite vocal last year to raise awareness about these risks. He sent hundreds of emails to journalists and politicians alike, and even placed giant banners in airports and streets in some European cities. “Mullvad is usually a very quiet company. This is probably the first time we've gotten angry enough to speak out,” Mullvad CEO Jan Jonsson told me when the company began its campaign in March last year.
A group of experts also wrote the umpteenth open letter less than a month ago to warn that the proposed side scanning “would have a negative impact on the privacy and safety of children online, while also having dramatic and unforeseen consequences on the landscape cybersecurity framework, creating an ineffective administrative burden.”
Well, all these efforts have now been rewarded.
“Secure encryption saves lives,” Breyer said again. “It is a scandal that the latest draft position of the EU Council still provides for the destruction of secure encryption. We, the Pirates, will now fight even harder for the digital privacy of our correspondence!”
