Encryption Under Siege: A Global Crackdown
Original: Encryption Is Getting Squeezed From All Sides
Why This Matters
Backdoor mandates in democratic nations set precedents that reshape global encryption standards.
Canada's Bill C-22 would mandate backdoors and expand data retention in encrypted services, prompting Signal, Psiphon VPN, Apple, Meta, DuckDuckGo, and NordVPN to threaten market exits as similar laws spread worldwide.
Canada's proposed surveillance legislation, Bill C-22, has become the latest flashpoint in a global push by governments to weaken encryption. First introduced in 2025 and partially revised after heavy criticism, the bill would place sweeping requirements on tech companies—including foreign ones—to log data and effectively build backdoors into encrypted products.
The response from industry has been unusually blunt. Signal says it would exit the Canadian market rather than alter its open-source architecture. Psiphon VPN, which provides internet access to millions of Iranians during government shutdowns, says it will leave Canada entirely if the bill passes. Apple, Meta, DuckDuckGo, and NordVPN have also raised objections or threatened to withdraw services.
The pattern extends well beyond Canada. The UK and Australia have enacted sweeping surveillance reforms that can compel companies to break encryption. Similar proposals have surfaced in the EU, France, India, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Not all have become law, but the direction is consistent.
Kate Robertson of the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab put the flaw in this thinking plainly: "That type of siloed thinking forgets that technology needs to be the secure operating platform for hospitals, for banks, for national security agencies, for police services themselves."
Cryptographers and security engineers have said for decades that encryption backdoors cannot be built safely—that any deliberate flaw is exploitable by bad actors as readily as by law enforcement. Policymakers keep returning to the idea anyway.