The Dutch government has issued a statement in defence of strong encryption, bucking the recent trend of governments and intelligence agencies arguing for weaker encryption.

Ard van der Steur, the Dutch minister of security and justice, wrote that “the government believes that it is currently not desirable to take legal measures against the development, availability and use of encryption within the Netherlands”.

Encryption supports respect for privacy and the secret communication of citizens by providing them a means to communicate protected data confidentially and with integrity. This is also important for the exercise of the freedom of expression. For example, it enables citizens, but also allows empowers important democratic functions like journalism by allowing confidential communication.

Security experts have welcomed the statement. Nithin Thomas, CEO of London-based security company SQR Systems called the announcement “a powerful example that other world governments should follow”.

Van der Steur is correct in asserting that strong encryption is vital to the privacy and security of the entire country. Creating back doors in encryption technology would just as readily create access for hackers as it would intelligence services, leaving everything from individual financial data to national secrets at risk.
— Nithin Thomas, speaking to Computer Weekly

Last month the Dutch government decided to donate €500,000 to the OpenSSL Project, which maintains an open-source implementation of the SSL and TLS protocols which are widely used to provide secure web and email communication.

For more information, see:

• Dutch government backs strong encryption, condemns backdoors – The Daily Dot
• Security experts support Dutch stance on encryption – Computer Weekly