Privacy-focused messaging app Signal will pull out of Sweden if the government forces it to store users' private messages, CEO Meredith Whittaker told SVT News. The proposed legislation would require messaging apps to create "backdoors" allowing law enforcement to access encrypted communications.
The bill, which could pass next year, aims to give Swedish police and Security Service the ability to retrospectively review message histories of crime suspects. But Signal's leadership sees this as an impossible ask that would compromise their core security promise to users worldwide.
The Swedish Armed Forces have joined Signal in opposing the measure. In a letter to the government, military officials warned that implementing such access points would create security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors.
"If you create a vulnerability based on Swedish wishes, it would create a way to undermine our entire network," Whittaker explained to SVT. "Therefore, we would never introduce these backdoors."
Previously:
• UK government forces Apple to strip encryption from UK users
• Good news: FBI says Apple's end-to-end encryption is 'deeply concerning'
• Apple says it will pull Messages and FaceTime if UK forces back-door access to its encryption
• As Apple fights the FBI tooth and nail, Amazon drops Kindle encryption
• His Majesty's Secret Service wants password to your nudes, threatens Apple for telling you
• When FBI complained, Apple dumped plans for encrypted iPhone backups: Report
• Apple CEO Tim Cook demands Obama White House formally defend Americans' right to strong encryption
