- The EU Commission presented a road map on how it intends to ensure that the police have effective and legal access to citizens’ data
- Politicians seek to establish a precedent for the deciphering of private data
- The road map is part of the Proteteu strategy, presented for the first time in April 2025
EU law agencies could be able to decipher their private data by 2030.
This is one of the ambitious objectives that the EU commission presented on its road map on June 24, 2025. A plan on how the block aims to guarantee the “legal and effective” access of police officers to citizens’ data.
The road map is the first step forward in the Protectu strategy, presented for the first time in April 2025, but privacy experts have already begun to increase the alarm.
How the EU plans to achieve legal access to data
Proteteu represents the internal strategy of the EU Commission to reinforce the security of the European bloc in the coming years.
It is derived from the work of the high -level group (HLG) carried out under the so -called Dark initiative. The group was commissioned, by the EU Council in June 2023, to develop a strategic plan “on access to data for the application of the effective law.”
Specifically, the final report of the group, published in March 2025, referred to the end -to -end encryption as “the biggest technical challenge” for the research work of the agencies of application of the law, explicitly pointing to the use of the best VPN services, encrypted messaging applications and similar tools.
The route map marks a key part of the strategy, which provides more details on how legislators plan to address what they call “the growing challenges of access to critical digital evidence” during criminal investigations.
The plan focuses on six key areas:
- Data retention. The EU Commission is expected to carry out an impact evaluation with the objective of extending EU data retention obligations and strengthening cooperation between service providers and authorities.
- Legal interception. Legislators seek to explore measures aimed at improving cross -border cooperation for the legal interception of the data by 2027.
- Digital coroner. The objective here is to develop technical solutions that allow the authorities to analyze and preserve digital evidence stored in electronic devices.
- Decoded. Next year, the EU Commission will present a technological roadmap on encryption to identify and evaluate deciphering solutions. These technologies are expected to equip Europol Officers of 2030.
- Standardization. It is said that the commission is committed to working together with Europol, interested parties of the industry, experts and professionals of the law to standardize the new internal security approach.
- AI solutions for the application of the law. Legislators also seek to promote the development and deployment of AI tools by 2028. These solutions will enable The authorities process legibly and effectively large volumes of data seized.
What experts say
Experts have long warned against the proposed plans to break the encryption, which means that the technology responsible for fighting data in an illegible way to avoid unauthorized access.
Now, according to the senior director of the Internet Society, Robin Wilton, another movement towards the deciphering of private data is concerned.
“The efforts to develop deciphered techniques almost inevitably introduce new vulnerabilities that could be exploited by any person with motivation and knowledge; they can also encourage” hoarding “of vulnerabilities, which is contrary to the good practice of cyber security,” Wilton told Techradar.
These comments echoed previous warnings of technologists, cryptographers and privacy defenders that were “deeply concerned” about EU’s plan to weaken the encryption.
The EU initiative that Dark has been launched by the EU Commission. They call it Proteteu. It is a brand change brand change. New name. The same old propaganda. The objective of the EU Commission is to “access the data encrypted legally, safeguard cybersecurity and …April 4, 2025
An increase in cyber attacks worldwide has pushed government agencies, including FBI and CISA in the United States, to encourage citizens to change extremely to extreme encryption services to fight against these threats.
The European Commission itself even previously recognized encryption as a necessary measure to protect the integrity of cyberspace.
This is probably the reason why a similar proposal to create a rear door in the encryption, the so -called chat control bill, has not been attracting the necessary majority since 2022.
Now, legislators promise to commit to find the correct balance between “allowing efficient solutions and future proof to facilitate the legal access of the police to digital information, while respecting the right to privacy and the maintenance of high levels of cybersecurity,” said the Commissioner of Internal Affairs and EU migration, Magnus Brunner.
For Wilton, policy formulators should never forget a simple fact: “Strong encryption is not the enemy of security, it is the starting point for it.”
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