Mozilla launches online petition to keep encryption alive

Mozilla has launched an online petition calling on governments to protect and secure personal information and privacy by rejecting encryption backdoors.

According to the Mozilla Foundation, our private conversations, personal data, and digital security are under attack because governments try to undermine encryption.

The technology that was originally designed to protect people from authoritarian regimes, scammers, and other threat actors from eavesdropping and espionage is increasingly being debated.

For example, the European Commission has suggested that platforms that offer encryption services create a backdoor or ‘master key’ so that international law enforcement agencies can have access to encrypted communication to fight crime. The Commission has also advocated client-side scanning, meaning that law enforcement and intelligence agencies can read private messages before they are encrypted.

In the United Kingdom, Apple was forced to pull its iCloud end-to-end encryption feature called Advanced Data Protection (ADP) for new users because the government secretly ordered the tech company to create a backdoor to access users’ encrypted iCloud backups.

In the United States, lawmakers have proposed several bills that could force companies to weaken secure messaging, leaving millions vulnerable to data breaches.

“Around the world, governments are escalating efforts to undermine encryption, the very technology that protects everything from your messages and photos to sensitive business and banking information. These attacks are being justified under the guise of safety, but in reality, undermining encryption makes everyone less safe,” Mozilla says in a blog post.

Therefore, Mozilla calls on governments around the world to reject encryption backdoors and client-side scanning. No one should be given special access to private communication because it weakens encryption for everyone, the foundation argues.

Instead, governments should ask cryptographers and privacy experts to come up with solutions for digital challenges. In addition, they should respect and protect our right to privacy.

To make people and governments more aware of the dangers that lurk ahead by crippling encryption, Mozilla has launched an online petition.

The foundation hasn’t disclosed what it plans to do with the petition.