Sixty-One Groups Urge Governments to Defend Strong Encryption

Sixty-one organisations from across the technology and privacy sectors have signed a global statement calling on governments to protect strong encryption. They warn that weakening encryption — such as by mandating backdoors — introduces serious security risks that affect everyone, not just individual users.

The groups argue that encryption is the backbone of privacy, trust, and innovation. It protects us in our online communications, secures sensitive data, and underpins digital commerce and innovation. If encryption is undermined, people may lose confidence in using secure services, and businesses could suffer too.

According to the statement, backdoors or key-escrow systems might be created with the aim of helping law enforcement, but they inevitably create vulnerabilities that malicious actors could exploit. The organisations emphasise that these risks are unavoidable — once a weakness is introduced, it cannot be fully controlled.

While the signatories recognise the need for law enforcement to investigate crime, they insist that these investigations must never come at the expense of everyone’s security and privacy. They call for lawful access to data through methods that don’t break encryption.

The coalition includes big names in the VPN industry — part of the VPN Trust Initiative — highlighting how essential encrypted tools are for privacy-conscious users.

This call to action comes amid increasing pressure on encryption from governments, especially in regions like the European Union where proposals are being made for broader access to encrypted communications