European human rights court says no to weakened encryption

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that laws requiring weakened encryption and extensive data retention violate the European Convention on Human Rights, a decision that may affect the EU's proposed Chat Control surveillance legislation. The court's Tuesday decision found that retaining all users' internet communications, giving security services direct access to stored data without adequate safeguards, and requiring decryption of end-to-end encrypted communications cannot be regarded as necessary in a democratic society. The case began in 2017, when Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) demanded that Telegram help decrypt a user's communication; the plaintiff, Anton Valeryevich Podchasov, brought the matter to the ECHR in 2019. Patrick Breyer, a Pirate Party member of the European Parliament, said the ruling shows that Chat Control is incompatible with EU law.