- Civil society organizations urge Switzerland to abandon extension of surveillance law
- The proposal would force VPNs, messaging apps and social networks to retain more data.
- The Swiss government is in the process of reviewing the amendment.
A coalition of 19 civil society groups warned that Switzerland’s proposal to expand data retention requirements could violate fundamental human rights.
In an open letter published on Wednesday, organizations including Amnesty International Switzerland, European Digital Rights (EDRi), Privacy International and Algorithm Watch urged lawmakers to “abandon any proposals” for broad, general data retention obligations.
The proposed expansion of Swiss surveillance powers has faced significant pushback from local politicians and privacy-focused tech companies such as Proton, NymVPN and Threema. While these tensions recently led the Federal Parliament to agree to a review of the amendment, experts told TechRadar that the government could still try to increase data collection.
The risks of the new Swiss surveillance law
Switzerland was once considered the global gold standard for privacy, but that reputation was called into question last year when the government proposed amending its surveillance law, known as the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (VÜPF).
The changes aim to expand monitoring and data collection obligations, which currently apply to Internet and telecommunications service providers (ISPs), to “derivative service providers.” This broad new category includes VPN services, messaging apps, and social media platforms.
Crucially, the proposal would force these companies to collect and store specific metadata that could be used to identify users.
This would allow law enforcement to retroactively identify people behind specific internet connections. European Digital Rights (EDRi) maintains: “Such levels of surveillance are unacceptable in a democratic society and seriously interfere with people’s rights to privacy and data protection.”
In an open letter to the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), civil society organizations argued that mass data retention is fundamentally incompatible with European legal principles and would “seriously undermine” the confidentiality of people’s private communications.
This echoes sentiments shared with TechRadar last year by Switzerland-based NymVPN, which described the expansion of surveillance as “a war on online anonymity.”
The open letter also warns that the proposed powers could create a “chilling effect” on broader civil liberties, including freedom of speech, assembly and a free press.
Beyond immediate concerns about privacy, experts also expressed concern about the law’s potential to create “enormous security risks” due to the increase in data collected.
Civil societies also believe that the Swiss amendment fell legally short, violating both the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and EU data protection laws.
“We recommend instead adapting Swiss legislation to the highest standards of protection established by both the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights,” the signatories concluded.
What’s next?
Last December, the Swiss Federal Parliament accepted a motion by Council of States member Johanna Gapany to review the controversial March amendment. While this effectively halted the proposal, it did not mark the end of the government’s surveillance ambitions.
Instead, Parliament confirmed it would commission an independent impact analysis before moving forward with a revised version of the law.
EDRi told TechRadar that its open letter is a strategic move to keep pressure on the government during this period.
“We want to ensure that the impacts of these intrusive measures on fundamental rights are focused on the debate and are not overshadowed by purely economic arguments,” an EDRi spokesperson explained.
EDRi member Digitale Gesellschaft, based in Switzerland, also told Techradar that privacy-friendly services are being pushed out of the country due to ongoing reviews. Erik Schönenberger, co-founder of the group, said the proposal “puts secure communication (for example between journalists, lawyers and doctors) at risk and therefore undermines fundamental rights.”
PrivadoVPN is the first high-profile victim of this change. The company recently confirmed to TechRadar that it is leaving Switzerland and moving to Iceland for privacy reasons.
This list could soon grow. Both NymVPN and Proton have said they would consider leaving the country rather than compromise their users’ anonymity if surveillance obligations become law.
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