The president of Signal, a prominent messaging app, has strongly criticized a revised proposal by the European Union aimed at monitoring encrypted chats under a new guise.
Initially introduced by the EU Commission in mid-2022, the Chat Control law sought to compel messaging platforms to establish a backdoor for end-to-end encrypted messages. Despite the EU Parliament committee voting against widespread screening of encrypted communications in November of the previous year, a revised version of the legislation now proposes an alternative approach known as “upload moderation” to combat online child sexual abuse material.
In a statement dated June 17, Signal’s president, Meredith Whittaker, argued that labeling it “upload moderation” is merely another attempt to undermine encryption. She emphasized that end-to-end encryption is a crucial technology for maintaining privacy in an era marked by extensive state and corporate surveillance, stressing the importance of its protection.
The updated Chat Control law would require telecommunication service providers to implement “upload moderation” as a means to combat child exploitation material. This includes scanning private chats en masse against a government-maintained database or using artificial intelligence to detect objectionable speech and content.
Whittaker dismissed these efforts as “misleading branding maneuvers” that encryption experts aren’t fooled by, urging lawmakers to cease these semantic games. She asserted that the method of breaching privacy, whether through intercepting chats pre-encryption or by other means, remains irrelevant.
Signal employs elliptic curve cryptography as its public key cryptosystem to support end-to-end encryption for messaging, as well as audio and video services. The company hinted at exiting the UK market last year following the passage of the Online Safety Bill, which could potentially grant authorities access to end-to-end encryption services.
Additionally, Signal has embraced cryptocurrencies, using encryption for transaction verification, similar to its competitor Telegram. Since March 2021, Signal has accepted donations in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and 10 other cryptocurrencies to support the Signal Technology Foundation.