France's encryption tech law used to charge Telegram founder rankles privacy advocates
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When French authorities arrested Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, they evinced the country's weirdness about encryption technology.
Why it matters: The episode adds to long-simmering tension between privacy advocates and law enforcement around the world.
- "I think this represents a very serious escalation," Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, tells Axios.
Catch up quick: Durov was charged last month (among other more eye-catching things) with failure to make a declaration about the encryption in the Telegram application and failure to declare that it had "imported" encryption technology.
- Both charges are based on a 2004 French law that requires companies distributing such technology in France to make a legal declaration that demonstrates their technology really behaves as advertised.
Between the lines: That law is a holdover from when encryption was not otherwise protected in the country, Noémie Levain, a legal expert at La Quadrature du Net, an organization that advocates for civil rights online, explains to Axios.
Zoom in: Privacy advocates in France and the U.S. tell Axios that firms operating there generally comply with the law's requirements, and it's not onerous to do so.
- It is not a license, just a declaration, Levain explains.
Yes, but: Levain and others have not been able to find any other charges against an executive made under it.
Flashback: In France's 8 December case, citizens were incriminated for using encrypted messaging as evidence of "clandestine behavior."
What they're saying: "There is this general image of encryption in France that it helps bad people," Levain explains.
- "An increasing amount of traffic on the internet is encrypted, and to say you have to register to offer encrypted services seems very strange," Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology tells Axios.
- "I would bet a lot of services that are not so large are not in compliance, and chief executive officers are not being arrested."
What we're watching: What the French state is really after. Does it want more help on criminal cases or does it want a backdoor into what little encryption Telegram offers?
- Telegram removed commitments to users to limit certain kinds of moderation following the arrest.
The bottom line: When consumers have the option for end-to-end encryption, it preserves their privacy against the platform as well as the state.
- When law enforcement chills privacy entrepreneurship, that's also a victory for surveillance capitalism.
