‘It is illegal to break the encryption’, the European Court of Human Rights rules

The European Court of Human Rights has banned all legal attempts to weaken the encryption of secure communications in Europe.

Encryption guarantees the enjoyment of fundamental rights such as privacy and freedom of expression judgment reads, while helping citizens and businesses defend themselves against misuse of information technologies. Hence the decision to ban legislation that could open backdoors that criminals can take advantage of.

The decision was enthusiastically welcomed by privacy experts who have long called on the European Commission to withdraw their CSAM scanning proposal, known as Chat Control. This proposal was intended to allow authorities to scan the private communications of all citizens to stop the spread of dangerous content.

EU chat monitoring banned

“With this remarkable, landmark ruling, the ‘client-side scanning’ surveillance on all smartphones, proposed by the European Commission in its Chat Control law, is clearly illegal. It would destroy everyone’s protection instead of investigating suspects” , according to the European Parliament and digital media. Freedom lawyer Patrick Breyer of the Pirate Party.

“EU governments will now have no choice but to remove the destruction of secure encryption from their position on this proposal – as well as the arbitrary surveillance of private communications of the entire population,” he added.

The EU Parliament already reached one in October last year historic agreement requesting the removal of the dangerous provision from the Proposal for scanning child sexual abuse material in the EU. While we reiterated privacy as a fundamental right, on that occasion too, it was decided to ensure online security and encryption.

However, the Chat Control was still on the table – at least until now.

From the start, tech companies that use encryption to build software – including providers of VPN services 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. It sent hundreds of emails to journalists and politicians alike, and even placed giant banners at airports and on the streets of some European cities. “Mullvad is usually a very quiet company. This is probably the first time we have really been angry enough to speak out,” Mullvad CEO Jan Jonsson said when the company started its campaign in March last year.

A group of experts also wrote yet another open letter less than a month ago to warn that proposed side scanning would “negatively impact the privacy and safety of children online, while also having dramatic, unforeseen consequences for the cybersecurity landscape.” of the EU, which would create an ineffective situation.” administrative expenses.”

Well, all these efforts have now paid off.

“Secure encryption saves lives,” Breyer said again. “It is a scandal that the EU Council’s latest draft position still envisages the destruction of secure encryption. We Pirates will now fight even harder for our digital privacy of correspondence!”