In a landmark judgement, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that laws mandating weakened encryption and extensive data retention violate the European Convention on Human Rights. The decision could have significant implications for proposed European data surveillance legislation to combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and the UK's Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA).
The case relates to a legal challenge against a Russian law requiring Telegram to decrypt end-to-end encrypted communications. While Russia is no longer a member of the Council of Europe, the ECHR continued to consider the matter because the 2019 case predates the date of its withdrawal.
The ECHR said that the legislation, which provides for the retention of all internet communications and permits security services direct access to the data stored, cannot be regarded as necessary in a democratic society, and doing so would entail weakening the encryption that keeps communication private.
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