GEC Efforts Slow Pace of the Belgian Data Retention Legislation
The Belgian Data Retention Legislation was recently introduced with a provision that would undermine the security and privacy provided by end-to-end encryption.
CDT signed a letter to Mrs. Petra De Sutter, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Administration, Public Enterprises, Telecommunication, and the Postal Services, and to Mr. Vincent Van Quickenborne, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and the North Sea, which was delivered on 29 September 2021. In that letter, supported by more than 100 civil society organizations, we argued against the provision because it would require operators of encrypted systems to enable law enforcement to be able to access on request content produced by specific users after a specified date in the future.
Our arguments against the Belgian Data Retention Legislation include: technical infeasibility, putting at risk Belgians’ privacy rights and confidentiality, risking attacks to all sectors including governments, and putting its business sector at a competitive disadvantage.
The coalition building work that went into the drafting of this letter is part of ongoing efforts to coordinate globally with human rights and civil society advocates around the world. The Global Encryption Coalition has published letters to the European Commission, Apple, and most recently Belgium in an effort to keep encryption safe.
British Public Oppose Secret Surveillance Powers and Want Strong Protections for Encrypted Communications
CDT released nationally representative polling data revealing that a the British public are broadly concerned about the security, privacy, and free speech consequences of allowing law enforcement to access encrypted communications.
As Brussels starts emptying for the summer, the risks of frontier AI models continue to capture the attention of policymakers as a key chapter of the AI Act becomes enforceable, and disclosure rules around the use of AI systems and AI-generated content are further clarified.
CDT Europe’s Feedback on the Draft Guidelines for the Classification of High-Risk AI Systems under the AI Act
CDT Europe responded to the European Commission’s consultation on the draft guidelines for the classification of high-risk artificial intelligence systems.
Responding to the EU-US Negotiations on Reciprocal Data Exchanges for Border Procedures
CDT Europe, together with 29 other civil society organisations and academics, sent an open joint letter to the Council of the EU regarding the worrying direction taken by the European Commission in the EU-US border negotiations with the U.S. government.
