New ePrivacy Proposal from EU Enforces Encryption

Anti-privacy movements

The new legislation seems to go head-to-head with the UK government’s latest efforts, where the Conservative Party actively campaigns in favor of weaker encryption levels. Their reasoning is that providing authorities more power over the internet is the only way to guarantee safety from terrorist attacks and cyber criminals. Although not explicitly stated, they hinted on forcing tech companies to grant access to certain information when the authority requests so. Many of them fear that this is a coded phrase to build backdoor access into devices and software in order to intercept mails between the members of a terrorist organization. However, exchanging privacy for the promise of safety is an irreversible trade, considering that malicous attacks and cyber crimes can still happen no matter how hard the government squeezes virtual communication.

Don’t forget the good-old-fashioned VPN

Surprisingly, you don’t need to give up your right to encryption to help the work of the cyber police, since they have methods to monitor and catch criminals even in a fully protected world. Experts state that by means of traffic analysis and occasional hacking, the message can be revealed before cyphering it. As for the EU’s ePrivacy draft, we welcome it with open arms, although we don’t expect it to be smoothly accepted. Until then, vigilantism on your part is highly advised. Deploying a VPN brings the same results as the legislation would: by activating a VPN your online data is protected in a similar fashion but you have the option to customize the security level by switching between protocol types in order to achieve faster connection speed. Most VPN companies swear by a no-log policy so that your browsing activities and private data cannot fall in the wrong hands.