Encryption Is Getting Squeezed From All Sides
Canada's C-22 bill could force encryption backdoors and metadata retention, prompting Signal and Psiphon to threaten exit.
WIRED's Kernel Panic reports that Canada's proposed C-22 bill could require companies, including those outside Canada, to add technical capabilities for law-enforcement access and retain user metadata, while claiming not to mandate a systemic vulnerability. Encrypted-messaging app Signal and anti-censorship VPN Psiphon say they would exit Canada if it passes; Apple and Meta have criticized it, and DuckDuckGo and NordVPN say they may pull services. The piece places C-22 alongside encryption-threatening measures in the UK, Australia, the EU, France, India, and other countries, arguing that mandated access amounts to a backdoor and that data-minimizing services cannot simply relocate.
- Canada's C-22 could require technical access capabilities and metadata retention.
- Signal and Psiphon say they would leave Canada if the bill passes.
- Apple, Meta, DuckDuckGo, and NordVPN have also criticized or may exit.
- Similar encryption-weakening proposals exist in the UK, Australia, EU, and elsewhere.
- Critics say any access to end-to-end encryption is a backdoor that cannot be built safely.
From the original article
4 min read at wired.com
Canada’s planned surveillance law is the latest grim step in a series of threats to encryption that are spreading around the world.
By Matt Burgess, Lily Hay Newman · wired.com
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