The Strasbourg Court has defended the right of ordinary citizens to privacy of correspondence.
A recent decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) called into question laws requiring weaker encryption and longer data retention times, such as those promoted by the European Chat Control initiative. The ECtHR expressed the opinion that such innovations in legislation directly violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Court stated that legislation providing for the preservation of all users ' Internet correspondence, as well as direct access by security services to stored data without adequate measures against abuse, and adding the ability to decrypt messages on demand, simply cannot be considered necessary in a modern democratic society.
This decision was the result of a court case that began in 2017 after the Russian special services demanded that the Telegram messaging service provide technical information to help decipher messages from a specific user. The lawsuit in this case was filed by civil activist Anton Podchasov, but his claims were rejected on the territory of Russia.
In 2019, Podchasov appealed to the ECHR. Almost five years later, the court concluded that the Russian law requiring Telegram to decrypt end-to-end encrypted messages essentially requires service providers to weaken the encryption mechanism for all users, which the court considers disproportionate to the legitimate goals of law enforcement.
While the ECtHR's decision is unlikely to have an impact inside Russia, it has implications for European countries considering similar decryption laws, including the European " Chat Control "and the British"Online Safety Act".
"Such an approach would destroy the protection of citizens," said Patrick Breuer, a member of the European Parliament and digital rights activist.
"EU governments will now have no choice but to exclude from their official position the rejection of secure encryption, as well as the indiscriminate surveillance of the personal communications of the entire population," Breuer concluded.
A recent decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) called into question laws requiring weaker encryption and longer data retention times, such as those promoted by the European Chat Control initiative. The ECtHR expressed the opinion that such innovations in legislation directly violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Court stated that legislation providing for the preservation of all users ' Internet correspondence, as well as direct access by security services to stored data without adequate measures against abuse, and adding the ability to decrypt messages on demand, simply cannot be considered necessary in a modern democratic society.
This decision was the result of a court case that began in 2017 after the Russian special services demanded that the Telegram messaging service provide technical information to help decipher messages from a specific user. The lawsuit in this case was filed by civil activist Anton Podchasov, but his claims were rejected on the territory of Russia.
In 2019, Podchasov appealed to the ECHR. Almost five years later, the court concluded that the Russian law requiring Telegram to decrypt end-to-end encrypted messages essentially requires service providers to weaken the encryption mechanism for all users, which the court considers disproportionate to the legitimate goals of law enforcement.
While the ECtHR's decision is unlikely to have an impact inside Russia, it has implications for European countries considering similar decryption laws, including the European " Chat Control "and the British"Online Safety Act".
"Such an approach would destroy the protection of citizens," said Patrick Breuer, a member of the European Parliament and digital rights activist.
"EU governments will now have no choice but to exclude from their official position the rejection of secure encryption, as well as the indiscriminate surveillance of the personal communications of the entire population," Breuer concluded.
