German Officials Think German Citizens Need Less Security, More Encryption Backdoors

There's another player on the world's anti-encryption stage. Some German government officials apparently feel it's OK for people to have encryption, but not secure encryption. The German government is exploring the idea of asking forcing tech companies to backdoor their encrypted communications platforms, presumably for the greater good of insecure humanity.

Government officials in Germany are reportedly mulling a law to force chat app providers to hand over end-to-end encrypted conversations in plain text on demand.

According to Der Spiegel this month, the Euro nation's Ministry of the Interior wants a new set of rules that would require operators of services like WhatsApp, Signal, Apple iMessage, and Telegram to cough up plain-text records of people's private enciphered chats to authorities that obtain a court order.

This is a move designed for efficiency, not security. German law enforcement is limited to pulling communications from seized devices currently -- one of the few places where encrypted communications can be found in plain text. Of course, device encryption is a thing these days, so this option is rapidly becoming about as productive as demanding tech companies hand over communications they don't actually store in plain text.

Something's got to give and it seems it won't be the government doing any compromising. But it won't be an easy push for anti-encryption legislators. Opponents within and without the government are expected to push back hard on this dangerous idea.

The new rules are set to be discussed by the members of the interior ministry in an upcoming June conference, and are likely to face stiff opposition not only on privacy grounds, but also in regard to the technical feasibility of the requirements.

As is always the case when encryption is on the line, those pushing for backdoors are claiming this not-all-that-new method of shielding stuff from prying eyes (the government's included) has done little but allow criminals and terrorists to operate with impunity. And as is always the case when these claims are made, zero evidence is presented that supports these theories.

One fact, however, cannot be ignored: a handful of European governments have pitched encryption backdoors over the past several years. But so far, not a single one has managed to actually implement such a mandate.