Chat Control 2.0? Experts urge the EU to not undermine encryption with new ProtectEU plan

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Around 40 organizations and 40+ persons are urging the EU to not undermine encryption with the brand new ProtectEU plan
Experts are asking to have a key position in defining the block’s generation roadmap on encryption
ProtectEU comes as but some other try to create a backdoor into encrypted messages

Around 40 organizations and 40+ persons are urging EU lawmakers to not undermine encryption.

In an open letter printed on May 5, 2025, the professionals are asking to have a key position in defining the block’s generation roadmap on encryption incorporated within the ProtectEU technique unveiled ultimate April.

ProtectEU is step one within the EU Commission’s method to lawful and efficient get right of entry to to knowledge for legislation enforcement. Yet, consistent with the professionals, it comes as some other iteration of the divisive Chat Control proposal that has been in quest of to introduce backdoors in encrypted messaging apps since 2022.

“No technical silver bullet”

Encryption refers back to the scrambling of information into an unreadable shape to forestall undesirable get right of entry to. The likes of Signal, WhatsApp, and safe e mail suppliers use end-to-end encryption to verify your messages stay non-public between the sender and receiver.

According to legislation enforcement, although, this stage of safety prevents law enforcement officials from effectively wearing on prison investigations. The ProtectEU plan then desires to provide extra equipment to legislation enforcement to lawfully get right of entry to folks’s on-line knowledge.

Yet, professionals have lengthy argued that encryption can’t be weakened safely.

“Strong encryption is essential to protecting human rights and Europe’s digital infrastructure. Any attempt to grant law enforcement exceptional access would introduce dangerous vulnerabilities. There is no technical ‘silver bullet,’ access for the ‘good guys only’ is not possible,” stated one of the crucial signatories, Matthias Pfau, CEO of Tuta Mail.

As discussed previous, Tuta additionally identified how ProtectEU would possibly come as merely a rebrand of the debatable Chat Control proposal. The invoice, which comes in an effort to halt the unfold of CSAM content material on-line through scanning all folks’s communications, has up to now failed to draw the wanted majority to become legislation.

Together with 39 orgs & 42 professionals, our founder @matthiaspfau calls at the EU for a systematic evidence-based option to #encryption 🔒No govt can alternate the regulations of math.Read the open letter ⤵️https://t.co/pdyoSEjoCH percent.twitter.com/VPz3s4XVJlMay 5, 2025

The staff, which incorporates each civil society organizations and people that specialize in generation and virtual rights, is now urging the EU to allow them to be an energetic a part of the ProtectEU technique.

They wrote: “Rather than investing more resources and time in systems that are demonstrably causing harm, we firmly believe that all stakeholders need to work together to find long-term solutions (both technical and non-technical) to complex societal issues.

“We additional imagine that we’d be well-positioned to offer skilled technical briefings to you, your cupboard, and services and products, and could be extremely joyful to make ourselves to be had for this objective.”

It is price noting that, whilst messaging apps and e mail suppliers are set to be the primary goal of lawmakers, the easiest VPN services and products may additionally turn out to be the following goal.

For the first actual time, if truth be told, a EU skilled staff explicitly referred to VPN services and products as “key demanding situations” to the investigative work of law enforcement agencies, alongside encrypted devices, apps, and new communications operators.