Ireland wants to give its cops spyware, ability to crack encrypted messages

Summary

The Irish government is planning to bolster its police's ability to intercept communications, including encrypted messages, and provide a legal basis for spyware use. The Communications (Interception and Lawful Access) Bill is being framed as a replacement for the current legislation that governs digital communication interception. The Department of Justice, Home Affairs, and Migration said in an announcement this week the existing Postal Packets and Telecommunications Messages (Regulation) Act 1993 "predates the telecoms revolution of the last 20 years." As well as updating laws passed more than two decades ago, the government was keen to emphasize that a key ambition for the bill is to empower law enforcement to intercept of all forms of communications. The Bill will bring communications from IoT devices, email services, and electronic messaging platforms into scope, "whether encrypted or not." In a similar way to how certain other governments want to compel encrypted messaging services to unscramble packets of interest, Ireland's announcement also failed to explain exactly how it plans to do this. However, it promised to implement a robust legal framework, alongside all necessary privacy and security safeguards, if these proposals do ultimately become law. It also vowed to establish structures to ensure "the maximum possible degree of technical cooperation between state agencies and communication service providers." The government said it will follow the EU Commission's (EC) roadmap for law enforcement data interception, including a section on encryption issues, which it published last year. "There is an urgent need for a new legal framework for lawful interception which can be used to confront serious crime and security threats," said justice minister Jim O'Callaghan, announcing the news. "The new legislation will also include robust legal safeguards to provide continued assurance that the use of such powers is necessary and proportionate. He said new legislatio...