German Civil Society Says No to Messaging App Backdoors

The Federal and State Ministry for Internal Affairs have discussed the plans and have come forward with a rule proposal, allowing security services to have extensive access to all types of electronic devices. Home assistance systems such as Amazon’s Alexa, digital voice assistants such as Apple’s Siri and Google’s Assistant, as well as smart devices, might become vulnerable to surveillance from law enforcement. While intelligence agencies have been able to read normal SMS messages and listen in to landline phones for many years, the new proposal seeks to ensure that even encrypted chats and phone calls can be read and intercepted in the future. According to the rule change, messenger services would fall under the telecommunications act of Germany (TKG) — which would basically oblige them to record communications of their customers and provide them in unencrypted form to the authorities. Providers who do not comply with this would be banned by the Federal Network Agency on German territory.

Civil Society Against the Proposal

Over 50 associations and companies, as well as almost 60 private persons, warned the public and official, institutions in an open letter, of the dangerous repercussions — if the planned intervention in the encryption of messenger services were actually implemented.

Keine Hintertüren in Messengern!

Offener Brief an das @BMI_Bund mit Unterzeichner:innen

Endfassung im PDF: https://t.co/caoDHn2vms

English version (thanks to @eco_de): https://t.co/4YdUU3dusV

[Embedded links only work after you downloaded the document]

— Sven Herpig (@z_edian) June 14, 2019

As stated in the letter, the reform would drastically lower the security level of millions of German internet users and massively damage Germany’s reputation as a digital hub of the world. Signatories include the Federal Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, the Association of the Internet Industry, Human Rights Watch and Mozilla. IT and cybersecurity experts fear that the planned law will make messengers less secure. In order to meet the requirements, messenger services would have to install a backdoor in their app. IT experts fear that apps will become more vulnerable to cybercrime and espionage activities by foreign intelligence agencies. In addition, the proposed bill would restrict citizens’ freedom of communication.

A Dangerous Example

The tapping of private communications and the blocking of entire apps is strongly reminiscent of digital policies from authoritarian states like China. With the reform, Germany would involuntarily become the model for such states, the signatories write. The authorities addressed in the letter have so far not responded to the letter. The unfortunate trend where states want to maintain control over their citizens’ speech and privacy is slowly unraveling. Should this become the norm across the globe, people will be looking at their options. Cryptocurrencies have been borne as a fail-safe in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis with Bitcoin’s inception. When people have no other option than to use decentralized systems in order to maintain their privacy — in their spending, calls or chats — the adoption of cryptocurrencies will register an unexpected surge, weakening the influence of the state. What do you think of the latest rule change proposal from the German Ministry for Internal Affairs? Will this set a dangerous example for other nations as well? Let us know in the comments!