European and UK policing leaders have jointly called on the technology industry and governments to ensure end-to-end encryption does not prevent law enforcement agencies from accessing data as part of investigations.
Police chiefs of 32 European nations met in London and released a statement calling for greater access to encrypted platforms. The joint statement released by the executive director of Europol and the UK’s National Crime Agency was released in response to growing concern by police chiefs that recent deployments of end-to-end encryption by communications and social media technology providers will hamper police investigations.
Police leaders have demanded that technology companies “maintain law enforcement’s lawful access to data”.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of the very public disagreement between the Labor government of Australia and owner of X, formerly known as twitter, Elon Musk, over content on the platform about the knife attack on a bishop in Sydney.
Stopping short of calling for an end to encryption deployments, the 32 police chiefs said there was a risk that investigations will be undermined as the technology companies are unable to see offences being carried out on their platforms.
Hampering law enforcement
In a statement, they said: “It will also hamper law enforcement’s ability to lawfully access data as part of investigations to prevent and prosecute the most serious crimes, such as child sexual abuse, human trafficking, drug smuggling, murder, economic crime and terrorism offences.”
Director of the National Crime Agency Graeme Biggar said: “Encryption can be hugely beneficial, protecting users from a range of crimes. But the blunt and increasingly widespread rollout by major tech companies of end-to-end encryption, without sufficient consideration for public safety, is putting users in danger.
“They cannot protect their customers as they are no longer able to see illegal behaviour on their own systems. Child abuse does not stop just because companies choose to stop looking.”
Catherine de Bolle, executive director of Europol, added: “To keep our society and people safe, we need this digital environment to be secured. Tech companies have a social responsibility to develop a safer environment where law enforcement and justice can do their work. If police lose the ability to collect evidence, our society will not be able to protect people from becoming victims of crime.”
Privacy and public safety
Indicating the importance of end-to-end encryption for protecting online users from digital scams, Biggar said: “Privacy and public safety need not be mutually exclusive. Solutions need to be found that deliver both. We all have a responsibility to ensure that those who seek to abuse these platforms are identified and caught and that platforms become more safe, not less. We cannot let ourselves be blinded to crime.”
The National Crime Agency stressed that it continues to work closely with Europol despite the UK leaving the European Union. “The NCA’s international liaison officer network is working closer than ever with EU partners, with significant successes against a range of crime threats including organised crime, drug trafficking and cybercrime,” it said in a statement.
Meta, the holding company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, came in for particular attention by the joint statement. Citing the implementation of end-to-end encryption across the Messenger platform, which the police chiefs believe will end “proactive reporting” by Meta that has led to the arresting of 800 suspects in the UK for child safety crimes. “The NCA estimates the vast majority of reports (92% from Facebook and 85% from Instagram) that are currently disseminated to UK police each year will be lost as a result of this decision.”
The police chiefs said cases of young boys being blackmailed and the seizure of 3.5 tonnes of class A drugs would not be successfully tackled in the future if “technology companies cannot respond to a warrant because the information has been hidden behind end-to-end encryption.”
