- Civil society organizations call on Switzerland to drop the extension of the surveillance law
- The proposal would force VPNs, messaging apps and social media to store more data
- The Swiss government is in the process of reviewing the change
A coalition of 19 civil society groups has warned that Switzerland’s proposal to expand data storage requirements could violate basic 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 proposal” for sweeping, overarching 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 to federal parliament agreeing to a review of the change, experts have told TechRadar that the government may still look 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 challenged last year when the government proposed changing its surveillance law, known as the Ordinance on Surveillance of Postal and Telecommunications Traffic (VÜPF).
The changes aim to extend monitoring and data collection obligations – which currently apply to telecommunications and internet service providers (ISPs) – to “derivative service providers.” This broad new category includes VPN services, messaging apps and social media platforms.
Crucially, the proposal will force these companies to collect and store specific metadata that can be used to identify users.
This would allow law enforcement to retroactively identify individuals behind specific Internet connections. European Digital Rights (EDRi) claims: “Such levels of surveillance are unacceptable in a democratic society and seriously interfere with people’s right to privacy and data protection.”
In an open letter to the Swiss Federal Ministry of Justice and Police (FDJP), civil society organizations argued that mass data storage 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 Swiss-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 wider civil liberties, including freedom of speech, assembly and a free press.
Beyond the immediate privacy concerns, experts also raised concerns about the law’s potential to create “major security risks” due to the increase in data collected.
Civil society also believes the Swiss amendment fell short legally and violated both the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and EU data protection laws.
“We instead recommend adapting Swiss legislation to the highest standards of protection set by both the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights,” the signatories concluded.
What’s next?
In December last year, the Swiss federal parliament accepted the proposal of cabinet member Johanna Gapany to revise the controversial change from March. While this effectively put the proposal on hold, it did not signal an end to the government’s surveillance ambitions.
Instead, parliament confirmed it would commission an independent impact assessment before moving ahead with a revised version of the law.
EDRi told TechRadar that its open letter is a strategic move to maintain pressure on the government during this period.
“We want to ensure that the fundamental rights impacts of such interventionist measures are at the center of the debate and are not overshadowed by purely economic arguments,” explained an EDRi spokesperson.
EDRi member Swiss-based Digitale Gesellschaft also told Techradar that privacy-friendly services are being pushed out of the country due to the ongoing audits. Erik Schönenberger, co-founder of the group, said the proposal “puts secure communication at risk – for example between journalists, lawyers and doctors – and thereby undermines fundamental rights.”
PrivadoVPN is the first high-profile victim of this shift. The company recently confirmed to TechRadar that it is leaving Switzerland and moving to Iceland for privacy reasons.
This list may soon grow. Both NymVPN and Proton have said they would consider leaving the country rather than compromise their users’ anonymity if the surveillance obligations become law
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