On 2 November 2023, the Internet Society UK Chapter has joined 500 cyber security experts, researchers and NGOs to sign an open letter sounding the alarm about the European Union’s proposed eIDAS reform.
After years of legislative process, the near-final text of the eIDAS regulation has been agreed by trialogue negotiators1 representing EU’s key bodies and will be presented to the public and parliament for a rubber stamp before the end of the year. New legislative articles, introduced in recent closed-door meetings and not yet public, envision that all web browsers distributed in Europe will be required to trust the certificate authorities and cryptographic keys selected by EU governments.
“If this comes to pass it would enable any EU government or recognized third party country to begin intercepting web traffic and make it impossible to stop without their permission,” the letter warns. “There is no independent check or balance on this process described in the proposed text.”
The full letter and list of signatories is here.