Leaked Document Reveals Spain's Proposal to Ban Encryption for Millions in the EU
Via WIRED
Summary
A leaked European Council document obtained by WIRED in May 2023 revealed that Spain held the most extreme position among EU member states on a proposal to require scanning of private encrypted messages, ostensibly to combat child sexual abuse material. Spanish representatives stated that it would be "desirable to legislatively prevent EU-based service providers from implementing end-to-end encryption." The majority of 20 surveyed countries expressed support for some form of message scanning.
Critics and privacy advocates warned that mandating backdoors or client-side scanning would effectively destroy the security guarantees of end-to-end encryption for hundreds of millions of people across the EU. Estonia cautioned that companies would likely either redesign systems to allow decryption or exit the EU market entirely if such a law passed.
