France, Germany press for EU encryption law after attacks

French intelligence services have been on high alert since attackers killed a large number of civilians in Paris in November and in Nice in July. Reuters reports that they are struggling to intercept messages from terrorist militants.

Investigators in several countries reportedly said that several terrorist groups are now seemingly choosing encrypted messaging services over mainstream social media, with Daesh being a big user of such apps.

During a conference side by side German interior minister Thomas de Maizière in Paris, French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the European Commission should draft a law obliging operators to cooperate in judicial investigations into tracking down terrorists. His comments were reproduced by the interior ministry on Twitter.

"If such legislation was adopted, this would allow us to impose obligations at the European level on non-cooperative operators," he said.

Pr les obliger à retirer des contenus illicites ou déchiffrer des messages ds le cadre d'enquêtes, que leur siège soit en Europe ou non 2/2

— Ministère Intérieur (@Place_Beauvau) August 23, 2016

Cazeneuve singled out the app operated by Telegram, which he said did not cooperate with governments. He added that the legislation should target both EU and non-EU companies.

Telegram promotes itself as ultra-secure because it encrypts all data from the start of transmission to the finish.

Privacy and digital experts have criticised Cazeneuve's initiative, however, warning against opening "backdoors" that would let governments read content.

"How could we then prevent terrorists from creating their own encrypted apps and as a consequence enjoy a higher level of security than users who have nothing to hide?" experts including the head of France's CNIL privacy watchdog wrote in a comment piece in Le Monde on Monday.