Swiss Government Looks To Undercut Privacy Tech, Stoking Fears of Mass Surveillance (therecord.media)
(Friday September 12, 2025 @11:21AM (msmash)
from the how-about-that dept.)
- Reference: 0179179022
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/09/12/0755253/swiss-government-looks-to-undercut-privacy-tech-stoking-fears-of-mass-surveillance
- Source link: https://therecord.media/switzerland-digital-privacy-law-proton-privacy-surveillance
The Swiss government could soon require service providers with more than 5,000 users to [1]collect government-issued identification , retain subscriber data for six months and, in many cases, disable encryption. From a report:
> The proposal, which is not subject to parliamentary approval, has alarmed privacy and digital-freedoms advocates worldwide because of how it will destroy anonymity online, including for people located outside of Switzerland. A large number of virtual private network (VPN) companies and other privacy-preserving firms are headquartered in the country because it has historically had liberal digital privacy laws alongside its famously discreet banking ecosystem.
>
> Proton, which offers secure and end-to-end encrypted email along with an ultra-private VPN and cloud storage, announced on July 23 that it is moving most of its physical infrastructure out of Switzerland due to the proposed law. The company is investing more than $117 million in the European Union, the announcement said, and plans to help develop a "sovereign EuroStack for the future of our home continent." Switzerland is not a member of the EU. Proton said the decision was prompted by the Swiss government's attempt to "introduce mass surveillance."
[1] https://therecord.media/switzerland-digital-privacy-law-proton-privacy-surveillance
> The proposal, which is not subject to parliamentary approval, has alarmed privacy and digital-freedoms advocates worldwide because of how it will destroy anonymity online, including for people located outside of Switzerland. A large number of virtual private network (VPN) companies and other privacy-preserving firms are headquartered in the country because it has historically had liberal digital privacy laws alongside its famously discreet banking ecosystem.
>
> Proton, which offers secure and end-to-end encrypted email along with an ultra-private VPN and cloud storage, announced on July 23 that it is moving most of its physical infrastructure out of Switzerland due to the proposed law. The company is investing more than $117 million in the European Union, the announcement said, and plans to help develop a "sovereign EuroStack for the future of our home continent." Switzerland is not a member of the EU. Proton said the decision was prompted by the Swiss government's attempt to "introduce mass surveillance."
[1] https://therecord.media/switzerland-digital-privacy-law-proton-privacy-surveillance
Now we'll know who owns those bank accounts (Score:3)
by jfdavis668 ( 1414919 )
Not the place to hide loot anymore
wunderbar (Score:2)
by znrt ( 2424692 )
> The proposal, which is not subject to parliamentary approval
these people used to hold several referendums a year to ask for every major change. in this one not even the talking puppets will have a say?
.bin (Score:2)
by bugs2squash ( 1132591 )
So are they going to remove all binary attachments from email ? Really, how would they know if something has encrypted content buried somewhere. I'm not even sure that they know what kinds of message they are trying to intercept.
Title correction: (Score:4, Insightful)
> Swiss Government Looks To Undercut Privacy Tech, Stoking Fears of Mass Surveillance
"Swiss Government Looks To Become Privacy Rapist, Stoking Fears of Mass Surveillance"
There FTFY.