If Brussels forces technology companies to weaken encryption, Signal will draw its conclusions and the developer will leave Europe. Users need not worry immediately: technical measures such as proxy servers will ensure that one retains access to the chat service. So says Meredith Whittaker, Signal's CEO, to German medium NTV.
End-to-end encryption means that only the sender and receiver can read a sent message. It is impossible for security forces and other agencies to eavesdrop on communications between two or more parties. In this way, not only is the privacy of users guaranteed, but their identity is also protected. For critical journalists and human rights activists living in an authoritarian regime, end-to-end encryption is the way to protect themselves from espionage.
Encryption also has a downside. Terrorists use it to plot attacks. Encryption can also be used to spread hate propaganda, copyrighted material or child pornography. Encryption makes it a lot harder for intelligence and security agencies to do their jobs. And that can have major implications for public order or national security.
For that reason, the European Commission is working on a bill to weaken encryption. One of the components that will most likely appear in the legislation is client-side device scanning. Images, videos, documents and other file types will then be scanned even before encryption is applied.
Privacy experts are very concerned about this. They fear that the bill will affect users' privacy. The American advocacy organization Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) fears that the bill is the first step in establishing a surveillance system. Ronald Cramer, professor of cryptology at Leiden University, called Brussels' idea "a sliding scale.
More than 40 international organizations recently published an open letter expressing their concerns about the bill. They fear that fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, the right to privacy and freedom of the press will be compromised. "Encryption is a crucial tool for user privacy, data security, online safety, press freedom, self-determination and free speech. Without encryption, users' data and communications are accessible to law enforcement and malicious parties," the drafters said.
The Lower House also sees nothing in the European Commission's bill. Lammer van Raan (PvdD) filed a motion in June 2022 to maintain end-to-end encryption. With the exception of the CDA, Christian Union and the SGP, the full House agreed to the motion.
Signal is now getting involved in the discussion as well. Managing director Meredith Whittaker says she finds it unacceptable if Brussels wants to force tech companies to weaken encryption. "If we are faced with the choice of weakening our encryption or leaving the EU, we will choose the latter," she told German medium NTV.
The top woman does not think technical measures will help undo encryption. With proxy servers, users retain access to their Signal account, including encryption. "Regardless of what the law says," Whittaker said. A proxy server is a computer that acts as an intermediate station between users and the Internet. They hide your IP address and help hide your identity and location.
This is not the first time Signal's CEO has threatened to leave. When the British government sent the Online Safety Bill to parliament, it made the same threat. "We will do everything we can to ensure that people in the UK can continue to access Signal. Anything but break our privacy promises," Whittaker said about it on Twitter.
