We live in dangerous times when it comes to the security of our hardware and software. With weekly if not daily warnings, it’s clear that the threat landscape is worsening, as sophisticated new attacks — many fueled by AI — are spiraling.
Against that backdrop, the current assault on encryption by well-meaning but flawed legislative thinking needs to stop — and it needs to stop now. While the headline act is the U.K.’s secret/not secret mandate for Apple to give law enforcement a key to user data, described as “an emergency for us all,” that’s but one part of a dangerous theme.
We have now seen these threats to end-t0-end encryption in France and Sweden and the EU more widely, in Australia, India and Brazil, and even in America, where the FBI wants “lawful access” to fully secure user content when warranted by an court.
But a welcome reverse in this new trend gives us hope that common sense might prevail — at least in enough places to isolate dangerous changes. France’s government was pushing hard to force encrypted messaging to introduce a ghost protocol. This is where a security agency can secretly join a chat without anyone in the chat realizing, listening in when warranted by a court for investigations into terrorism, drugs, child abuse.
But France’s National Assembly has just shut this down. This rejection says EFF. “should send a message to legislatures around the world: You don’t have to sacrifice fundamental rights in the name of public safety. Encryption is not the enemy of justice; it’s a tool that supports our fundamental human rights.”
Had France moved forward with this change, Signal said it would exit the country and it’s likely WhatsApp would do the same. It’s impossible for a fully encrypted platform to adopt the change without fundamentally weakening its platforms. That’s not the same as enabling access to cloud backups, which is the current concession Apple has made in the U.K., albeit one it wants to reverse in the courts to restore user security.
France’s decision is critical, as is the EU stall on “chat control.” But what matters more is the Five Eyes, the U.S. and U.K. intel sharing cabal that includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand. If the U.K. structures a compromise with Apple that opens up user data vaults, it’s likely the others will push for the same. And this isn’t just iPhones at risk, it seems certain Google and others are facing the same pressure.
France’s decision is welcome, but EFF warns that “for the foreseeable future, misguided lobbyists for police national security agencies will continue to push similar proposals—perhaps repackaged, or rushed through quieter legislative moments. Supporters of privacy should celebrate this win today. Tomorrow, we will continue to keep watch.”
