The bill has been made under the guise of preventing sexual abuse of children. A total of 20 member states have given their opinion on the bill. Finland is one of the five that does not support the proposal as it is.
If the bill given to the European Union is implemented, the message protection of private individuals would weaken considerably. Illustration picture. Christophe Licoppe / Alamy Stock Photo
Several European Union member states want to reduce the privacy of instant messaging services that use encryption, such as Whatsapp and Signal, to prevent the spread of illegal content. The end-to-end encryption of instant messaging applications enables privacy for messages similar to letter secrecy.
A bill has been submitted to the European Union on the matter. Wired got the laid out document into possession, where several different countries have given their answers to the survey related to the bill.
If passed, the law would enable the authorities to monitor citizens’ message traffic more easily than before. Spain’s response to the motion is most radically on the side of the bill.
– We would like a law that would prevent the end-to-end encryption of service providers operating in the EU, says Spain’s response.
A similar bill is pending in Britain. Whatsapp has commented that they do not agree to weaken their message encryption. For this reason, the app may be declared illegal in the UK.
Finland does not support the presentation
A total of twenty EU member states had given the answer. Finland is one of the five that does not support the presentation as it is. Decryption is being done under the guise that, by examining the messages, it would be possible to intervene in the sexual abuse of children.
Iltalehti reached the head of unit of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, traffic adviser Maria Rautavirtanwho has been involved in preparing Finland’s response to the survey.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications is responsible for the privacy of electronic communications. Illustration picture. Pasi Liesimaa
– Decryption has now gained special attention in the matter. However, we strongly believe that sexual abuse of children should be prevented and that it must be addressed, Rautavirta tells Iltalehte.
According to Rautavirta, there are other ways to intervene in the sexual abuse and enticement of children, which should be tried before starting to decrypt and protect messaging services.
– It shouldn’t be the result of protection. This can lead to new types of gross misconduct.
According to Rautavirta, as a way to protect children, one would first have to try, for example, a way where the services used by children would not be open to everyone, but the default setting would be that the accounts of a certain age are private. When children use applications, they should be informed if harmful content can be spread in the service.
– The settings of applications used by children must basically be in the best interest of the child. The solution cannot be that someone monitors messages through the back door.
As a rule, Finland is represented in the negotiations by the Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Ministry of Justice are also involved in the formation of the position. The Ministry of Transport and Communications is especially responsible for matters concerning the privacy of electronic communications.
“Here, so to speak, the child would go with the washing water”
The implementation of the law would hardly prevent criminal activity, but would drive them to look for new channels for their purposes.
Finland has tried to send a message that it would be necessary to take extra time to process the case and think about the consequences of the decision, even if the intention is good.
– Here, the child would go with the bathwater, so to speak, Rautavirta states.
If implemented as it is, the proposal would undermine law-abiding services and citizens’ privacy rights.
You can’t go back to the unglamorous past
According to Rautavirta, even at the moment, there is temporary legislation that enables illegal content to be identified, if there are compelling enough reasons and the topic is defined precisely enough.
– However, the regulations do not require the service provider to weaken the encryption of its service in order to perform identification.
The instant messaging services Whatsapp and Signal use an encrypted connection. Illustration picture. Friedrich Stark / Alamy Stock Photo
In such cases, the police will issue a request to the service provider, from which the service provider can scan the content distributed in their service if necessary.
Rautavirta points out that one of the cornerstones of the modern internet is encrypted connection and message content. People using encrypted connections have chosen these for a reason.
– We cannot go back to a time when there was no encryption. In this case, the data would be even more susceptible to misuse and identity theft.