Privacy in WhatsApp chats could soon be over: The EU demands monitoring of communications in messengers - but the concept is sketchy.
End-to-end encryption has been
in place in chats on
WhatsApp
since 2016
.
The
EU is
now demanding that security authorities
can
read
encrypted communications
.
The concept is
dangerous
and has met with strong
criticism
from politicians
.
Kassel - Messenger
WhatsApp *
only switched to secure
encryption
in 2016
and guaranteed users private chat conversations that only the sender and recipient can read.
But that could soon change again: at the request of the
EU
,
security authorities should
soon be able to read the encrypted communication.
Everyone's privacy will eventually suffer.
EU demands monitoring of communication: Messenger like WhatsApp should reveal chats
Confidential conversations, gossip and private appointments - chat histories on
have been
secured from third parties
with
end-to-end encryption
since 2016
and can therefore only be read by senders and recipients.
But this valuable
private sphere
could soon be a thing of the past: As zeit.de reports, the
EU
demands
that
in future
law enforcement authorities
should read messages from messenger services in order to be able to fight serious crimes.
+
Will our chats on WhatsApp soon no longer be encrypted?
An EU decision requires monitoring of communication in messengers so that criminals can be better prosecuted.
(Symbol image)
© Fabian Sommer / dpa
In a new resolution of December 14, 2020 with the title “Security with encryption and security despite encryption”
,
interior ministers of the European Union
call for
extended
surveillance rights
to make it
easier to detect and prevent
terrorism, organized crime and child abuse
.
But not only criminals, but also human rights activists, public prosecutors, police officers and politicians can be observed with this decision, since
encryption
can not only be used for some and not for some.
Access to chats on WhatsApp and Co .: EU requires interfaces to monitor criminals
The political argument behind the resolution is that society
will benefit
from
penetrable encryption
, as
security
agencies and intelligence services can better track down and prosecute criminals, such as terrorists.
However, this consideration is in contrast to the
social privacy
that is lost as a result.
Are only communications from criminals guaranteed to be intercepted and read?
In order to enable the
law enforcement authorities
to access the messages, a so-called two-track principle could come into question - a
listening system
in which end-to-end encryption runs on one track, which is then passed on to another unencrypted can be.
In order for law enforcement officers
to be able to access chats
as part of the necessary
monitoring of communications
, providers, for example with WhatsApp to Facebook *, must then
activate
an
interface for certain chats
.
Such
control options
should, however, only be used in a country-specific and targeted manner in connection with serious criminal offenses.
Chat control on WhatsApp: EU decision meets with much criticism
But that
The concept has a catch:
once
a so-called
"back door"
is built in, not only authorities can access it, but also other states, secret service agents and hackers.
Companies can thus become more vulnerable to attack.
The
EU's demand has
therefore met with a lot of
criticism
from isolated EU parliamentarians: “How should lawyers, prosecutors, human rights activists or journalists be able to communicate in a protected manner when a third person or authority can potentially read?
How should companies protect their trade secrets? ”Said MEP of the Pirate Party, Patrick Breyer.
Any communication could therefore also be intercepted and read by unauthorized persons.
But what if messenger services refuse
to
lift
end-to-end encryption
and
install
interfaces
?
There is still no concrete answer.
Alternatively, however, Internet traffic could be disrupted by a process called deep packet inspection, which forces users to switch to other
controlled intelligence services
, explains Linus Nordberg, computer security and network expert.
(Alina Schröder)
* hna.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editorial network.
List of rubric lists: © Fabian Sommer / dpa