A/HRC/29/32 VPNs and encryption.28 Cuba requires regulatory authorization for those using encryption. 29 In Ethiopia, the Government has the power to set the technical standards of encryption and recently enacted regulation that criminalizes the manufacture, assembly or import of any telecommunications equipment without a permit.30 Such regulations impermissibly interfere with the individual use of encryption in communications. Intentional weakening of encryption 42. Some States have implemented or proposed implementing so-called back-door access in commercially available products, forcing developers to install weaknesses that allow government authorities access to encrypted communications. Some Governments have developed or purchased tools to allow such access for domestic surveillance purposes.31 Senior officials in the United Kingdom and the United States appear to advocate requiring back-door access. 32 States supporting such measures often claim that a legal framework for back-door access is necessary to intercept the content of encrypted communications. Governments proposing back-door access, however, have not demonstrated that criminal or terrorist use of encryption serves as an insuperable barrier to law enforcement objectives. Moreover, based on existing technology, intentional flaws invariably undermine the security of all users online, since a backdoor, even if intended solely for government access, can be accessed by unauthorized entities, including other States or non-State actors. Given its widespread and indiscriminate impact, back-door access would affect, disproportionately, all online users. 43. The debate on this issue highlights a critical point: requiring encryption back-door access, even if for legitimate purposes, threatens the privacy necessary to the unencumbered exercise of the right to freedom of expression. Back-door access has 28 29 30 31 32 See www.ispak.pk/Downloads/PTA_VPN_Policy.pdf. Submission of Cuba. See Ethiopia Telecom Fraud Offence Proclamation 761/2012, sects. 3–10. See Morgan Maquis-Boire and others, For Your Eyes Only (2013, Citizen Lab). See the speech given by Prime Minister David Cameronhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juibdvtyzy8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =juibdvtyzy8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juibdvtyzy8https://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=juibdvtyzy8 on 12 January 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juibdvtyzy8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juibdvt yzy8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juibdvtyzy8at the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juibdvtyzy8Conservative Party https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juibdvtyzy8pledges conference for the 2015 general election and the speech given by James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on 16 October 2014, entitled “Going http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/going-dark-aretechnology-privacy-and-public-safety-on-a-collision-coursedark: http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/going-dark-are-technology-privacy-and-public-safetyon-a-collision-courseare http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/going-dark-are-technologyprivacy-and-public-safety-on-a-collision-coursetechnology, http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/going-dark-are-technology-privacy-and-public-safetyon-a-collision-courseprivacyhttp://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/going-dark-are-technologyprivacy-and-public-safety-on-a-collision-course and http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/going-dark-are-technology-privacy-and-public-safetyon-a-collision-coursepublic http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/going-dark-are-technologyprivacy-and-public-safety-on-a-collision-coursesafety on a http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/going-dark-are-technology-privacy-and-public-safetyon-a-collision-coursecollision http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/going-dark-aretechnology-privacy-and-public-safety-on-a-collision-coursecourse?”, at the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C. 15