Going Dark: The war on encryption is on the rise. Through a shady collaboration between the US and the EU

The Mullvad article examines a renewed political push in the United States and European Union to restrict or weaken end‑to‑end encryption under the banner of fighting crime and terrorism. It traces this “going dark” narrative—law enforcement’s claim that strong encryption prevents access to digital evidence—and contrasts it with the post‑Snowden shift toward widespread encryption by major technology platforms to protect users from mass surveillance. The piece argues that while encryption is a core safeguard for privacy, security, and free expression, it is increasingly portrayed by some policymakers and law‑enforcement bodies as an obstacle that must be circumvented through regulatory and technical measures such as scanning private messages or introducing backdoor access. A central focus is the EU’s “chat control” initiatives and related efforts to mandate client‑side scanning or otherwise gain access to encrypted communications, as well as parallel US debates in which agencies invoke the “going dark” problem to press for exceptional access. Civil liberties and security experts counter that any mandated backdoor or scanning regime would systematically weaken encryption, expose users to broader cybersecurity risks, and normalize large‑scale surveillance beyond the stated goals of combating serious crime. The article situates these developments in the broader “crypto wars” between governments seeking investigatory capabilities and technologists, companies, and rights advocates defending strong encryption as essential infrastructure for a secure and open digital society.

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

More coverage

• "Shedding Light on the "Going Dark" Problem and the Encryption ... (repository.law.umich.edu)
• Going Dark? Federal Wiretap Data Show Scant Encryption Problems (mercatus.org)
• Critical Issues: Encryption & Going Dark (theiacp.org)
• Going Dark - Stanford CIS (cyberlaw.stanford.edu)
• "Going Dark" – No Easy Answers on the Cybersecurity Horizon (mcmillan.ca)

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