Swiss telecom and internet providers face mass surveillance

A coalition of international human and digital rights organizations, including Amnesty International and European Digital Rights (EDRi), urges the Swiss Federal Council to amend or abandon proposed changes that would expand mass data retention and user identification obligations for nearly all telecom and internet service providers.

“The general and indiscriminate retention of communications data constitutes a disproportionate interference with the rights to data protection and privacy,” the international coalition says in an open letter.

This is because data retention targets the entire population, and it undermines the principle of confidentiality of communications.

According to the human civil rights movements, the Swiss Ordinance on the Surveillance of Post and Telecommunications Traffic (VÜPF) significantly extends the obligation of metadata retention for large communications service providers. It also imposes user identification requirements on virtually all online service providers, including virtual private network (VPN) providers.

This would significantly increase the amount of personal data retained, further intensifying the interference with the right to privacy and data protection. In turn, the move will have an impact on other fundamental human rights as well, such as the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly and association, the coalition feels.

Furthermore, the Ordinance is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). For example, the Ordinance would weaken the legal protections against arbitrary or abusive law enforcement access to personal data, as it allows access to subscriber information and IP addresses without prior authorization by a court.

In addition, the legislation could introduce security risks. “Cyberattacks targeting the tele- and electronic communications sector are on the rise and impact the online safety and privacy of millions of people across the world, but also business and public administrations. The draft Ordinance would increase the amount of data subject to such data breaches,” the coalition warns.

Lastly, there are less intrusive alternative measures at hand that can achieve the same objectives as the proposal, making data retention requirements and user identification obligations redundant.

“In light of the above, we urge you to abandon any proposals for wide-ranging, blanket data retention obligations, privacy-effacing identification obligations, weakening of crucial legal safeguards, and automatic data disclosures in the revision of the VÜPF Ordinance,” the human rights groups conclude their letter.

Because of the far-reaching proposed surveillance regulations, Proton threatened to leave Switzerland.

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