- Civil society organizations urge Switzerland to drop surveillance law expansion
- The proposal would force VPNs, messaging apps, social media to retain more data
- The Swiss government is in the process of revising the amendment
A coalition of 19 civil society groups has warned that Switzerland’s proposal to extend data retention requirements could violate fundamental human rights.
In an open letter published on Wednesday, organizations including Amnesty International Switzerland, European Digital Rights (EDRi), Privacy International, and Algorithm Watch urged lawmakers to “abandon any proposals” for wide-ranging, blanket data retention obligations.
The proposed expansion of Swiss surveillance powers has faced significant pushback from local politicians and privacy-focused tech firms like Proton, NymVPN, and Threema. While these tensions recently led the Federal Parliament to agree to a revision of the amendment, experts have told TechRadar that the government may still look to increase data collection.
The risks of the new Swiss surveillance law
Switzerland was once considered the global gold standard for privacy, but that reputation was challenged last year when the government proposed amending its surveillance law, known as the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Post and Telecommunications Traffic (VÜPF).
The changes aim to extend monitoring and data collection obligations – which currently apply to telecoms and internet service providers (ISPs) – to “derived service providers.” This broad new category includes VPN services, messaging apps, and social media platforms.
Crucially, the proposal would force these companies to collect and store specific metadata that could be used to identify users.
This would allow law enforcement to retroactively identify individuals behind specific internet connections. European Digital Rights (EDRi) argues: “Such levels of surveillance are unacceptable in a democratic society and seriously interfere with people’s rights to privacy and data protection.”
In an open letter to the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), civil society organizations argued that mass data retention is fundamentally incompatible with European legal principles and would “severely undermine” the confidentiality of people’s private communications.
This echoes sentiments shared with TechRadar last year by Swiss-based NymVPN, which described the expansion of surveillance as “a war against online anonymity“
The open letter also warns that the proposed powers could create a “chilling effect” on broader civil liberties, including freedom of speech, assembly, and a free press.
Beyond the immediate privacy concerns, experts also raised concerns about the law’s potential to create “huge security risks” due to the increase in data collected.
Civil societies also believe that the Swiss amendment fell short legally, infringing both the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and EU data protection laws.
“We recommend instead to align the Swiss legislation with the highest standards of protection set by both the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights,” the signoatires concluded.
What’s next?
Last December, the Swiss Federal Parliament accepted the motion by Council of States member Johanna Gapany to revise the controversial March amendment. While this effectively paused the proposal, it did not signal an end to the government’s surveillance ambitions.
Instead, Parliament confirmed it would commission an independent impact analysis before moving forward with a revised version of the law.
EDRi told TechRadar that its open letter is a strategic move to maintain pressure on the government during this period.
“We want to ensure the fundamental rights impacts of such intrusive measures are centered in the debate and not overshadowed by purely economic arguments,” an EDRi spokesperson explained.
EDRi member, the Swiss-based Digitale Gesellschaft, also told Techradar that privacy-friendly services are being pushed out of the country due to the ongoing revisions. Erik Schönenberger, co-founder of the group, said the proposal “puts secure communication at risk – for example, between journalists, lawyers, and doctors – and thereby undermines fundamental rights.”
PrivadoVPN is the first high-profile casualty of this shift. The company recently confirmed to TechRadar that it is leaving Switzerland and relocating to Iceland on privacy grounds.
This list may soon grow. Both NymVPN and Proton have said they would consider leaving the country rather than compromising the anonymity of their users if the surveillance obligations become law
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chiara.castro@futurenet.com (Chiara Castro)
