End-to-end encrypted messages violate human rights: European Court of Justice

The creation of end-to-end encrypted messaging services like Telegram and Signal erodes freedom of expression and exposes innocent users to hackers, identity thieves and indiscriminate government surveillance, the European Court of Human Rights has said.

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The court found that while criminals may use end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to enforce the law, rolling back encryption threatens innocent and normal users' freedom of expression and violates the European Convention on Human Rights. .

He argued that encryption would “indiscriminately affect everyone,” including those who pose no threat to governments, and allow for “regular, comprehensive, and nondiscriminatory surveillance of private electronic communications.”

The European Court of Human Rights unequivocally defends encryption!

The court ruled today in Podchasov v Russia that forcing @Telegram to unlink its users is incompatible with the core of the European Convention on Human Rights. pic.twitter.com/j3YrfK0exm

— Natalia Krapiva (@natynettle) February 13, 2024

“Technical solutions to protect and preserve the confidentiality of electronic communications, including encryption measures, contribute to ensuring the enjoyment of other fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression,” the court added.

The court argued that there are other ways to monitor encrypted communications that do not require a secret backdoor, such as accessing communications equipment.

Podchasov first sued his country's government in 2018, saying that its government's requirement to turn over the messaging records of users suspected of being terrorists violates European human rights laws and opens all user communications to decryption.

Telegram rejected the requirement, saying it would weaken encryption for all users without a backdoor. In response, the country blocked access to Telegram in April 2018.

Podchasov's case went through several appeals to the country's highest court, which rejected it, and finally to the European Court of Human Rights.

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In a recent court ruling, the country violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states that “everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.”

In ruling against Podchasov, the European Court ruled that the requirement to decrypt E2EE communications “cannot be considered necessary in a democratic society” and that the laws allowing communications without protection violate rights and “exceed any acceptable limits of appreciation in this regard.”

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