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Next Week, World Leaders Will Meet to Talk About How Much They Hate Encryption

The upcoming security summit in DC will be used to talk about new and interesting ways to build backdoors to crack encryption.
​Image: Jason Koebler

​Everyone from the FBI and the ​Justice Department to top ​European politicians have recently set their sights on ending encryption. Increasingly, it's looking like world leaders are going to make moves to crack down on it at the upcoming global security summit in Washington, where President Obama ​has invited allies to counteract "violent extremism" in light of recent terror attacks.

Apple and Google made encryption more popular than ever with the decision to include it as a default on their smartphone platforms, spurring US law enforcement to act. In Europe, the terrorist attacks on the offices of satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo moved politicians to push for privacy-killing policies in the name of security.

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A leaked briefing that was sent to members of parliament by the EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator implied that Europe has already discussed policies that would end or water down encryption.

"If there is a golden key, the bad guys will be working hard to make copies of it"

"Since the Snowden revelations, internet and telecommunications companies have started to use often de-centralized encryption which increasingly makes lawful interception by the relevant national authorities technically difficult or even impossible," the memo said.

"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)," it continued.

The White House did not reply to requests for comment about what's on the table next week, but many are speculating that encryption will be high on the list.

Henrik Alexandersson, a political commentator who has worked with the Swedish Pirate Party for five years, says there are "very strong reasons" to believe a policy meant to thwart encryption will be discussed in Washington.

"President Obama has said he will announce the policy on encryption this week, and we have the European Summit the end of this week, and a Global Security summit beginning next week, I think it's pretty obvious there is going to be something about encryption coming up," he told me.

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"if you corrupt the system of encryption, you could open it up for anybody"

European parliament member Judith Sargentini said that following the Charlie Hebdo attacks, members of parliament were put under intense pressure from voters to take action against online threats.

"If you want to tell your citizens you're on top of it, you need to bring proposals," she told me. "The idea that young men and women are radicalizing through information they find on the internet leads to the desire to have ways to take down content more easily."

Accessing this content would mean building in security "backdoors," which would allow law enforcement to break encryption. Alexandersson says such backdoors fundamentally undermine encryption.

"It would be very difficult to find a practical solution for the government," Alexandersson said. "There really is no such thing as a golden key for encryption, because if you corrupt the system of encryption that way, you could open it up for anybody."

Gregory Nojeim, a lawyer at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said even if it were possible to create "a golden key" for law enforcement to access encrypted communication, the risk of it being intercepted is too high.

"If there is a golden key, the bad guys will be working hard to make copies of it," he said. "I don't think we want a world where cellular phones and internet services become even more vulnerable to hackers, identity thieves and the intelligence agencies of foreign governments. We need more security, not less."

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"This is foolish, it's technically unsound and dangerous for fundamental rights"

There are some politicians who are outspoken about the importance of preserving encryption. Julia Reda, Member of the European Parliament for the German Pirate Party told Motherboard by email that after Edward Snowden's revelations of the extent of government surveillance, European politicians told people to rely on encryption for security. She says it is "unacceptable" to turn back on the right to use encryption now.

"Encryption is essential to protect the integrity of the communications of individuals and businesses in Europe," she said. "This is especially important given how ineffective the European Union has been at stopping the mass surveillance of its people politically."

Sargentini said it's conceivable that backdoors to encryption could have legitimate uses in Europe, but it still wouldn't be worth building them in, because they would almost definitely have adverse effects on those who use it in other countries.

"People like whistleblowers are using it, and touching that is bringing down possibilities you need in a democracies," she said. "If [backdoors are] accepted in European democracies, how could it not be copied by repressive regimes?"

Reda has already said any upcoming proposals that could adversely affect encryption should be voted down.

"I am gravely concerned by politicians plotting to undermine these technologies and mandate the installation of government back doors," she said. "This is foolish, it's technically unsound and dangerous for fundamental rights. Such backdoors can always also be used by criminals. These proposals must be rejected."

The summit will begin on Wednesday. We don't know what will be on the table, but what's clear is that encryption is a major topic of conversation right now—and the people discussing it seem hellbent on finding ways to crack it.