This is an item on the agenda of the meeting of Interior ministers on 7 June that will go almost unnoticed: in the late morning, the Twenty-eight will briefly discuss the impact of the establishment of 5G on judicial and law enforcement authorities, in particular with regard to the legal interception of communications.
They will hear a presentation by the European Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove. His report, of about ten pages, indicates that the security standards of 5G technology may undermine legal wiretapping. "The ability of law enforcement and judicial authorities to carry out lawful interception in a 5G environment must be maintained and urgent measures are needed", he explained, stressing that the work initiated by Europol with 16 Member States is not sufficient.
The report identifies three risks: the end-to-end encryption of communications and the sim card, as well as the virtual and fragmented architecture of 5G. He advocates dialogue with operators and indicates that it may not be too late to "influence standard definition”. He added that legislative measures may also be necessary, stressing that the transposition of the electronic communications code at national level could provide an opportunity for Member States to coordinate their actions in this context and that the EU could also intervene to avoid fragmentation. And to recommend that the following elements be taken into account: the registration of all suppliers and their obligation to extract a complete and unencrypted surveillance copy, the obligation to structure their network in such a way that location data is always available and finally, the obligation to cooperate in order to allow technical measures - such as the identification of the sim card number - to be implemented.
In response to this question, the EU Civil Liberties Monitoring Network, Statewatch, invites the EU to consider these issues more broadly. In its view, the changes made by 5G must be seen in terms of the loss of traditional powers as well as the new "disturbing possibilities” they offer to law enforcement authorities. More generally, Statewatch calls for an open debate, rather than a discussion behind closed doors such as the one planned for 7 June in Luxembourg. Mr de Kerchove's briefing can be found at: https://bit.ly/31aSnvq (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)