EU Justice Ministers will discuss “balancing” law enforcement access to digital communications with privacy rights in a Council lunch debate on Thursday, according to a briefing paper seen by Euractiv.
The Polish Presidency disseminated the paper among country delegations ahead of tomorrow’s Justice and Home Affairs Council informal debate.
Ministers are set to exchange views on the best approaches to allow law enforcement authorities to gain lawful access to communications data for criminal investigations, “given the technological challenges and the need to protect human rights and the rule of law” the document reads.
Law enforcement access to communications data has run into a wall on end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging services as they do not hold encryption keys — meaning they cannot decrypt their users’ communications so cannot provide this data in the clear to law enforcement authorities, even when served with a warrant.
E2EE technology is designed to preserve individuals’ privacy and boost cybersecurity, but law enforcement authorities complain it provides secure communications for criminals.
The issue drew a lot of attention during earlier rounds of negotiations for an EU regulation to combat child sexual abuse, for which the Commission proposed to make it mandatory for even E2EE services to scan messages to detect criminal content.
Discussions on the file are still ongoing in the Council, which remains divided on the matter. Conversely, the Parliament has pushed to remove the requirement to force E2EE platforms to scan content, with MEPs concerned such a measure would break encryption.
The Polish Presidency briefing acknowledges that access to communications data by law enforcement “has always been an intrusive investigative measure.”
But it also points to the work of the Commissions’ expert group on the matter, which recommended requiring lawful interception of communications application across all services, and suggested developing a technological roadmap.
The briefing paper does not go into any detail on potential technological solutions for “balancing” lawful access and E2EE.
But, in April, the Commission announced the creation of a technological roadmap as part of its Internal Security Strategy.
(NL)
