EU: These are scary times – let's backdoor encryption!

HELLFIRE

https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/03/eu_backdoor_encryption/

The EU has shared its plans to ostensibly keep the continent’s denizens secure – and among the pages of bureaucratese are a few worrying sections that indicate the political union wants to backdoor encryption by 2026, or even sooner. While the superstate has made noises about backdooring encryption before, the ProtectEU plan [PDF], launched on Monday, says the European Commission wants to develop a roadmap to allow “lawful and effective access to data for law enforcement in 2025” and a technology roadmap to do so by the following year. … According to the document, the EC will set up a Security Research & Innovation Campus at its Joint Research Centre in 2026 to, somehow, work out the technical details. Since it’s impossible to backdoor encryption in a way that can’t be potentially exploited by others, it seems a very odd move to make if security’s your goal. China, Russia, and the US certainly would spend a huge amount of time and money to find the backdoor. Even American law enforcement has given up on the cause of backdooring, although the UK still seems to be wedded to the idea. …

Regards

GrumpyCanadian

HELLFIRE Typical of politicianese: call it “ProtectEU” when, in reality, you’re effectively doing the exact opposite. Didn’t we learn the lesson from the old useless U.S. encryption export restrictions of years ago? This ends up benefiting no one, and biting someone in the arse when it’s least expected or welcome.