In March this year, EU countries’ interior ministers are due to vote on the introduction of mandatory client-side scanning for all providers in order to identify child abuse material.
But an open letter, published today, from a group of privacy-focused companies warns of the risk of opening up a backdoor and calls on ministers to defend citizen’s right to privacy and strengthen the position of EU companies.
“Security experts agree that the chat control proposal by the EU Commission to scan every chat message and every email would create a backdoor — one that could and will be abused by criminals. As the largest encrypted email provider in the EU, we are proud that we have built Tuta Mail here in Germany — a secure product in line with the European GDPR enabling millions to communicate confidentially online,” says Matthias Pfau, founder of Tuta Mail. “Now we call on our Interior Ministers, specifically on Nancy Faeser (SPD, Germany), to choose the right side in this discussion: uphold strong encryption and protect the human right to privacy of millions of EU citizens and businesses. Europe cannot pride itself on the progress made with GDPR legislation while simultaneously promoting client-side scanning. Such a move would destroy any credibility the EU currently holds in matters of privacy and encryption for businesses and citizens alike.”
The letter points out that the EU has a unique chance to become the beacon of hope for freedom of speech and democracy by defending strong encryption so EU citizens and businesses can continue to enjoy online privacy and confidentiality at the highest possible level.
It calls on the EU council to guarantee a number of things to preserve a high level of cybersecurity in the EU by protecting end-to-end encryption and bringing the necessary safeguards in the text. It says that client-side scanning and backdoors in particular should not be mandated in order to preserve confidential correspondence.
You can read the full letter here.
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