Digital rights activists have criticized a new proposal by European Union (EU) governments that would require communications companies to provide authorities with access to encrypted conversations users'.
This new plan/proposal was first reported by the Austrian public broadcaster FM4. Many EU states believe that police and agencies should be able to easily monitor online conversations that use end-to-end encryption (e.g. Signal or WhatsApp) to do their job more effectively. Many criminals exploit such messaging apps to hide their conversations.
A first draft of this proposal was released on November 6 by the German government, which represents the EU. This proposal says that a “better balance” needs to be found between privacy and the fight against online crime.
The confidential plan, obtained by The Associated Press, states that “competent authorities must be able to access data in a lawful and targeted manner, in full respect of fundamental rights and data protection regimes, while strengthening cybersecurity.”
It adds that “technical solutions for accessing encrypted data must comply with the principles of legality, transparency, necessity and proportionality.”
German politician and activist Anke Domscheit-Berghas accused European governments of exploiting the anxiety caused by recent extremist attacks in France and Austria as an excuse to impose more surveillance and monitoring on users, and she has also stressed that users' digital rights would be violated if the new proposal were implemented (i.e. if authorities gained access to encrypted conversations).
“Anyone who finds an open door in my house can get in, the same goes for backdoors in software,” Domscheit-Berg said. “The EU proposal is an attack on the integrity of the digital infrastructure and is therefore very dangerous.”
Patrick Breyer, a member of the European Parliament with Germany's Pirate Party and an activist, said that the ability for governments and authorities to monitor encrypted conversations puts an end to secure encryption and opens doors to attacks by foreign governments and cybercriminals .
According to SecurityWeek, the proposal has not yet been approved. The decision is expected to be made sometime this month.
