The European Union plans to follow the lead of the UK, which is dealing with it with messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal. A leaked document reveals support from the Spanish Government and other EU members possible prohibition of end-to-end encryption protecting private messages citizens on this platform. Also the officials themselves who in 2021 started using Signal instead of WhatsApp to strengthen the security of their communications.

An internal survey of the Council of Europe in which member states were asked about their position on the regulation of these technologies has expressed the opinion of each administration, being Spain supports banning end-to-end encryptionone of. As is the case in England, the goal to be pursued is to stop material sexual abuse against children circulating via the mobile application. “Authorities tasked with enforcing the law must have the means to be able to continue to fulfill their legal obligations now that many criminals have moved into cyberspace” indicated Spain At the end of the document.

The end-to-end encryption that WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram conversations are based on, with a few differences, allows messages to be sent from one protected device to another without anyone else having access to them. Even employees of those companies cannot have access to data that users send to each other.

[WhatsApp aclara a Europa su política de privacidad en pleno órdago de retirar Facebook e Instagram]

Ylva Johansson, EU commissioner, is the promoter of this proposal which has been surveyed by member states and which includes an extensive debate that this group of countries has analyzed over the years, whether to defend citizens’ online privacy or weaken it to be able to prosecute crimes with the same force. bigger. Of the 20 countries surveyed, the majority supported the second option, with Spain being the most powerful country, according to Cable who first has access to the document.

“It is very important for us to have access to data,” said the Spanish delegation. “Ideally, in our opinion, it would be desirable to prevent legislatively that EU-based service providers implement end-to-end encryption”, can be read. Asked by the American magazine, Daniel Campos de Diego, spokesman for the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, said that the country’s position on this matter is widely known and has disclosed to the public on several occasions, making it clear that encryption on the Internet is a barrier to fighting cybercrime.

Another country that supports restrictions on communication encryption is Poland. The country has proposed a mechanism whereby these protections can be lifted before a court order, that is, the company removes end-to-end encryption to be able to consult messages when authorities request it. They also proposed that Parents can decipher their children’s communications.

Both European authorities and other US agencies such as the FBI frequently request information about suspects from the platforms they operate on. Thus, with end-to-end encryption, WhatsApp can only share data such as the contacts the suspect communicates with and their activities in real time, but never the content of the messages. Everything was obtained by court order.

WhatsApp has spoken before the bill which is being evaluated in the UK, assuring that if it is determined as currently written, the app will choose to protect the safety of users outside of that region and they will stop providing services in that country. “98% of our users are outside the UK”, but the number of users that could be lost if implemented in the EU would also be much higher. At this time, WhatsApp or Signal have not spoken about this possibility.

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