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Encryption

European Commission Takes Aim At End-to-End Encryption and Proposes Europol Become an EU FBI (therecord.media) 31

The European Commission has announced its intention to join the ongoing debate about lawful access to data and end-to-end encryption while unveiling a new internal security strategy aimed to address ongoing threats. From a report: ProtectEU, as the strategy has been named, describes the general areas that the bloc's executive would like to address in the coming years although as a strategy it does not offer any detailed policy proposals. In what the Commission called "a changed security environment and an evolving geopolitical landscape," it said Europe needed to "review its approach to internal security."

Among its aims is establishing Europol as "a truly operational police agency to reinforce support to Member States," something potentially comparable to the U.S. FBI, with a role "in investigating cross-border, large-scale, and complex cases posing a serious threat to the internal security of the Union." Alongside the new Europol, the Commission said it would create roadmaps regarding both the "lawful and effective access to data for law enforcement" and on encryption.

European Commission Takes Aim At End-to-End Encryption and Proposes Europol Become an EU FBI

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 02, 2025 @05:22PM (#65277441)

    Don't worry. Only the good guys can get in

  • And the UK can't block it. :-)

  • The FBI used to investigate interstate crimes in the US. Now they perpetrate fake terrorists. When they walk in the room that "whoosh" sound is them sucking. They've managed since 9/11 to become a joke of their own selves.

    And now Europe wants to emulate that, with "Europol." Because Interpol was ALWAYS a joke. Oooh, red card. What is this, soccer for dummies? No black card no yellow card what? And now Europol because if you put "Euro" in front of something you can bet it will be awesome... like the

  • Not much about E2E (Score:4, Informative)

    by F.Ultra ( 1673484 ) on Wednesday April 02, 2025 @06:27PM (#65277557)
    Saying that the EU is talking aim at end-to-end encryption is a bit hyperbole. All they have written about it so far in this proposal is this:

    The Commission will present a roadmap setting out the legal and practical measures it proposes to take to ensure lawful and effective access to data. In the follow-up to this Roadmap, the Commission will prioritise an assessment of the impact of data retention rules at EU level and the preparation of a Technology Roadmap on encryption, to identify and assess technological solutions that would enable law enforcement authorities to access encrypted data in a lawful manner, safeguarding cybersecurity and fundamental rights.

    So yes one outcome of such an assessment could very well be "lets end E2E encryption" but it could just as well end in simply stating that such a method is not possible.

  • by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Wednesday April 02, 2025 @07:19PM (#65277645)

    >"about lawful access to data and end-to-end encryption"

    We already know how that is going to go. They want to either outlaw effective encryption (which means outlawing end-to-end), or they want to ruin encryption, itself, by somehow forcing a back door into it, which will inevitably be discovered or leaked and then jeopardize everyone's security everywhere.

    I understand the needs of policing and enforcing. And it is sad for them that the concept of communication and data storage can exist without their ability to spy on it. But in today's world, you can't have ANY real security or privacy without full, unmolested, end-to-end encryption. If they, the supposedly "good" entities, can spy on it, then so can the "bad" entities.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Indeed. Also "lawful" = "the fascists allow themselves to do it".

      Fortunately, this cannot work. But politicians are stupid and discionnected.

    • No, they want client side scanning.

      Updates are still universal backdoors BTW. Unless you completely DIY you are always at the mercy of a third party, no exceptions. They can spy on it.

  • I thought Interpol already existed for that purpose.

    • ... for that purpose.

      While Europe has the EU, many EU departments (Eg. Europol) don't have jurisdiction inside member states, unlike the FBI/US Marshalls in the USA.

  • "The dark night of fascism is always descending in the United States and yet lands only in Europe." - Tom Wolfe

  • by GrahamJ ( 241784 ) on Wednesday April 02, 2025 @10:57PM (#65277877)

    There will always be a way to communicate securely, it's only a matter of how many hoops regulators will make you jump though to do it.

  • Becuse there is no way to enforce any such backdoors against people with some minimal knowledge and motivation to use it. The only real use of this is mass surveillance. And that is why the European Court of Justice has blocked this time and again.

    • Yes, they are always greedy.

      I'm pretty sure that if they simply said "all commercial services for voice and text communication must have provisions for judicially ordered wiretaps" the ECJ would not object. It's okay for legacy phones, so what would make apps special? Instead they always try to push mass surveillance and get nowhere.

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