France is attempting to pass a new surveillance law requiring the inclusion of secret encryption backdoors by providers, to serve intelligence agencies and police.
Critics say this attack on secure communications is the worst of its kind in the European Union (EU) and are urging citizens to put pressure on lawmakers to prevent the adoption of the so-called Narcotrafic law, which has cleared the country’s Senate and is now in the National Assembly.
Among those raising the alarm over the law is the well-known end-to-end encrypted email service Tuta, which reiterates the fundamental argument against building any backdoors into any encrypted app – something that French legislators now need to hear: once broken for one, encryption is broken for all.
“A backdoor for the good guys only is not possible,” says a blog post on Tuta’s site.
It adds that the idea to give law enforcement the ability to remotely activate cameras and microphones, expand “black boxes” authorization, and further facilitate online censorship (allegedly only related to the use and sale of drugs) might be presented by those behind the proposed law as needed to fight organized crime – but that, at the same time, it goes against a number of existing laws.
Since weakening encryption leaves everyone vulnerable, EU’s data protection rules (GDPR) would be compromised, and, as Tuta is based in Germany, the article references that country’s IT Security and Telecommunications (TKG) acts as well.
By mandating backdoors, the French government would be “compromising the security of all users – citizens and businesses alike,” Tuta insists.
The law aims to have encrypted messengers, including WhatsApp and Signal, gain access to encrypted communications between persons suspected of a drug trafficking-related crime – so that those messages can then be delivered to law enforcement.
The apps would have 72 hours to comply or pay €1.5 million (individuals) or up to 2 percent of global annual turnover (companies).
The Tuta blog post notes that those behind the “Narcotrafic” amendment seeking to enable all this appear to be trying to build on previous instances of solving crime by breaking into encrypted apps – however, Encrochat and AN0M were “built by criminals for criminals,” the article remarks.
And that is “something else entirely compared to breaking the encryption of chat apps used by billions of people such as WhatsApp, Signal and Tuta Mail,” the post reads. “The collateral damage of the latter would be horrific.”
