Encryption 'Going Dark' Dilemma Splits UN Crime Congress Tech Workshop
United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice • United NationsSeptember 30, 2026
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On Sept. 30, 2026, police officials, UN agencies and a private surveillance-tech CEO at the 15th UN Crime Congress took on a question no treaty has settled: how investigators can reach encrypted evidence without weakening everyone's security. No decisions were taken in Committee II's Workshop 4. But its two panels mapped the fault lines states will negotiate as the new UN Convention Against Cybercrime moves toward implementation: binding human rights safeguards versus enforcement-first approaches, and how far tech companies are held to account.
- UNODC pitches "lawful access by design" to break the encryption stalemate
- Canada's lawful access bill, now in the Senate, won't force providers to break encryption they cannot break
- UN Convention Against Cybercrime reaches 95 signatories, but only 3 states parties
- Egypt rejects legal privileges for tech firms: "There should be no room for concessions."
- US opposes widespread regulation as OHCHR urges bans or moratoria on AI bail and parole tools
- Deepfake crackdown: Canada criminalizes sexual deepfakes; US touts 48-hour takedown rule
The basics: "Going dark" describes investigators losing access to evidence locked behind encryption.
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