EU swings behind David Cameron’s encryption plan – as party grassroots voice opposition

The European Union is swinging behind Prime Minister David Cameron's policy to enable national governments to read all encrypted communications - at the same time that his own Conservative Party grassroots are starting to come out against the idea.

In a paper leaked to privacy group State Watch, the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union, EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove wrote:

"Since the Snowden revelations, internet and telecommunications companies have started to useoften de-centralised encryption which increasingly makes lawful interception by the relevantnational authorities technically difficult or even impossible."

He wants the EU to have the power to force internet companies to tap their communications as part of a new strategy to combat terrorism. The paper was drawn up following the Islamist terrorist attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

He continued: "The Commission should be invited to explore rules obliging internet and telecommunications companies operating in the EU to provide under certain conditions as set out in the relevant national laws and in full compliance with fundamental rights access of the relevant national authorities to communications (i.e. share encryption keys)."

A spokesperson for de Kerchove declined to comment, according to EurActiv.

At the same time, though, the Conservative grassroots has woken up to oppose Cameron's widely derided encryption and internet surveillance proposals - which he also put to US President Barack Obama in his recent trip to Washington DC.

Writing on Conservative Home, former Cambridge University Conservative Association officer Andrew Bower, who now works in Cambridge's technology industry, roundly criticised the Prime Minister's plans. "Encryption is ubiquitous in our everyday devices and the commercial services that enable them," he wrote.

He continued: "Encryption is not just for the bad guys. The online world makes our assets and identity vulnerable. Encryption as part of a well-designed security model is essential to enabling and giving confidence to banking transactions and commerce today.

"By mobilising against encryption the government is contradicting the advice of its Information Commissioner on data protection for organisations and its own advice to the general public about being safe online."

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EU swings behind David Cameron's encryption plan – as party grassroots voice opposition