Socialist Spain Behind Push to Ban Private Messaging in EU, Leaked Docs Show (no end-to-end encryption for you, just like China)

Breitbart ^ | 25 May 2023 | KURT ZINDULKA

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Socialist Spain is leading the way in attempts to ban private messaging technology in the European Union, according to a leaked survey of member state opinions on encryption.

A leaked document from the European Council, originally obtained by the tech magazine Wired, which surveyed EU member states on the proposed law that would force messaging companies, like WhatsApp and Signal, to break their encryption and scan the content of private messages to supposedly stop the spread of child pornography.

The proposed legislation has been criticised by privacy rights campaigners as well as by tech experts, who say that it is not possible for encrypted messages to be ‘scanned’ by the providers as the very point of end-to-end messengers is that they are only visible to the parties involved, with even the provider itself being blocked from viewing the content. Therefore, the law would in reality force the companies to break their encrypted services.

Out of all countries surveyed, the socialist government of Spain was the most radical, calling for an outright ban of end-to-end encryption from the bloc altogether, saying: “Ideally, in our view, it would be desirable to legislatively prevent EU-based service providers from implementing end-to-end encryption.”

The Spanish representatives went on to say that it is “imperative that we have access to the data” and called for a way of messages to be decrypted to be put in place.

Commenting on the document, Riana Pfefferkorn of Stanford University’s Internet Observatory said: “It is shocking to me to see Spain state outright that there should be legislation prohibiting EU-based service providers from implementing end-to-end encryption.”

While law enforcement advocates have claimed that encryption assists criminals in evading the police, others have noted that should a ‘back door’ or a means of decrypting messages be put in place for police,...

[HartleyMBaldwin]

the proposed law that would force messaging companies, like WhatsApp and Signal, to break their encryption and scan the content of private messages to supposedly stop the spread of child pornography

Of course, this will only ever be used to stop those evil child pornographers. And if you believe that...

[No name given]

Spain has certainly come a long way from the days of Francisco Franco.

[SauronOfMordor]

Part of it would be to ban the ability of users to install apps except from a moderated app store. Otherwise developers could just create one and upload to Github.

As long as you have the ability of a phone app to establish a TCP connection, you can have an encrypted session.

And does this ban also apply to financial institutions?

[vmpolesov]

Same as arguments about ‘clipper’ encryption around 1993. “Oh we promise the keys will be in a lock box and require an order from a judge”

[Phoenix8]

What the heck happened to Spain?

I thought Franco literally wiped the communists out during the civil war and with his nationalist police after? Or is it just more left-wing propaganda that Franco hunted down and executed the commies after the war?

I suspect the later.

[from occupied ga]

Gpg public key encryption before you send your message.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

That would be a crime, according to them.

[steve86]

I use Signal as my main messaging app, not so much to hide political stuff but mostly to keep sexting activity secret.

(kidding, mostly)

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It's built into Windows 10. Right-click your text file and select Properties. Select Advanced, then check the box to Encrypt contents to secure data. Press OK, then Apply.

The archive tool "7-Zip" also features an encryption tool.

Good luck, Spain, stopping people from keeping files out of your prying eyes.

[zeugma]

Every country hates encryption. Everyone should use PGP / GPG for emails and other communications, but the government makes sure that most email clients do not support strong and easy to use encryption.

[zeugma]

It's built into Windows 10. Right-click your text file and select Properties. Select Advanced, then check the box to Encrypt contents to secure data. Press OK, then Apply.

Encrypt using what algorithm? ROT-13?

[NavyShoe]

So American-like...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“ROT-13”

C’mon, even Caesar knew how to decrypt that. But, being MS, you might be right. It would make it easy for government to interrupt and any kid with a decoder ring could do it.

[Texan4Life]

Yes, in the name fighting Child Pornography, you should relinquish ALL right to Privacy. /s

[dfwgator]

Communism is like Cancer, it can only go into remission, but there’s always the threat that it can return and metastasize.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Of course. It’s for the children, you know. /s too