Attorneys for digital privacy saved encryption in France last week, once again, when MPs finally rejected a controversial provision to create a back door for law enforcement.
The notorious Article 8 of the proposed The Trade of Trade in Drug Trade -which is currently transferred to the country’s National Assembly -would have demanded all encrypted messaging apps and secure E email services to decrypt user data at an authority’s request.
The decision to preserve people’s privacy and security is definitely a victory for the tech industry. Still, “We must continue to fight for privacy and continue to raise our votes – as long as there are still politicians trying to break encryption,” Tuta Mail press officer Hanna Bozakov told Techradar.
The dangers of an encryption back door
Previously passed by the Senate came the Bill aimed at “freeing France from the trap of drug trafficking”, as an attempt to create a strong framework to investigate these types of crimes.
As mentioned earlier, the installation of encryption back doors requires in them like ProtonMail, Signal and WhatsApp hair attracted strong criticism in and out of the political benches.
Encryption refers to encryption data to an ulcerous form to prevent access to third parties. End-to-end encryption is the repetition of messaging apps and secure email services, including tools such as today’s best VPNs, use to protect data during transit by keeping them private between the sender and the recipient-end.
However, since cryptographers and other experts have long claimed, it is not possible to create an encryption back door that only good guys can utilize.
Comment on the French case, CEO of Tuta Mail, Matthias PFAU, said: “A backdoor for the good guys is only a dangerous illusion. Wraping encryption for law enforcement creates inevitable vulnerabilities that can – and will – be exploited by cyber criminals and hostile foreign actors.”
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In 2016, France also rejected a change in its digital republic law that required the creation of an encryption back door. The provision was introduced as an attempt to fight against terrorism, but was considered a “vulnerability after design” by France’s digital minister at the time, Axelle Lemaire reported.
When the global encryption coalition warned in an open letter published on March 4, a back door would also have weakened the French Messaging app Olvid, officially certified by the country’s cybersecurity agency and recommended to French ministers and government officials.
Given the salt Typhoon hack in the US-AS, triggered a warning to switch to encrypted services and France’s concern for Russian alleged cyberattacks, which Politico reported, “the French governments, citizens and businesses that depend on the French governments have never been greater,” noted experts.
The National Assembly eventually listened to concerns from the industry and scraped the claim requirement on encryption in the bill on March 6.
However, despite the widespread criticism, France Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed his support for the encryption provision as a necessity to ensure “maximum efficiency” in the fight against organized crimes, Le Monde reported.
In comments on this point, Bozakov from Tuta Mail said to Techradar: “I am concerned that politicians still do not understand anything about cyber security – although there are huge foreign threats right now aimed at our society mainly from Russia and China.”
Not just France
France’s attempt to undermine encryption may have been stopped again. However, the country is not alone in pushing to choose the lock of encrypted communication to facilitate criminal investigations.
Sweden is also considering passing on a similar requirement to them as signal, whatsapp and iMessage. If they succeed, the new rules could come into force as early as March 2026.
Side client scan is just an encryption back door but with a beautiful name
Romain Digneaux, Proton
These plans have already attracted strong criticism from the tech industry, where signal president Meredith Whittaker reiterates that the signal would rather leave the country than undermine its encryption protection.
On February 21, 2025, Apple was even forced to kill its iCloud’s end-to-end encryption feature in the UK after a government order to create an encryption back door.
Since 2022, the EU has also tried to pass on its chat control proposal to scan citizens’ private communication, including encrypted messages, to stop the spread of sexual abuse of children (CSAM).
Like Romain Digeaux, Public Policy Manager at Proton (the provider behind Proton VPN and Proton Mail) points out, while these endeavors are nothing new and tend to fail (as in France), they consistently return.
“What we see is creativity from law enforcement to try to push the same old concept with new names – and it’s all about,” Digneaux told Techradar.
“The side client scan is a clear example of that. It’s just an encryption back door, but with a beautiful name. Something that sounds more technical and more acceptable to people who don’t necessarily understand how the technology works.”
