{"id":306746,"date":"2025-06-13T09:18:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T16:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/?p=306746"},"modified":"2025-07-01T14:23:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T21:23:59","slug":"what-is-the-law-against-online-anonymity-proposed-by-switzerland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/what-is-the-law-against-online-anonymity-proposed-by-switzerland\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the law against online anonymity proposed by Switzerland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Switzerland, long seen as a&nbsp;<strong>global benchmark for privacy and data protection<\/strong>, is now under scrutiny for proposing a controversial change to its surveillance laws. The amendment could significantly affect the&nbsp;<strong>online anonymity of users worldwide<\/strong>, especially those relying on encrypted services based in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What does the proposed amendment include<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Swiss Federal Council has launched a consultation to&nbsp;<strong>modify the Ordinance on the Surveillance of Correspondence by Post and Telecommunications<\/strong>. The change would extend surveillance obligations beyond telecoms to include&nbsp;<strong>VPN providers, messaging apps, cloud platforms and social networks<\/strong>, if they meet certain thresholds\u2014either more than 5 000 users or $100 million in turnover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These services would be required to&nbsp;<strong>collect and store metadata<\/strong>, such as who contacted whom and when, even if the content of the communication remains encrypted. While the government claims that end-to-end encryption won&#8217;t be compromised,&nbsp;<strong>privacy experts argue that the metadata alone is highly intrusive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Privacy industry reactions are deeply divided<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Proton and NymVPN, both known for their commitment to privacy, have&nbsp;<strong>strongly opposed the law<\/strong>, warning it would make their services unusable for protecting anonymity. Proton\u2019s CEO even compared the legislation to&nbsp;<strong>surveillance regimes in authoritarian countries<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other hand, Infomaniak, another Swiss provider, is more moderate. While it also opposes the law in its current form, it supports a system where&nbsp;<strong>privacy coexists with accountability<\/strong>. The company argues that&nbsp;<strong>anonymity must not become a loophole for impunity<\/strong>&nbsp;online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What\u2019s next for online anonymity in Switzerland<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The public consultation ended in May 2025. Now, the government is reviewing feedback, which included&nbsp;<strong>strong opposition from civil society and even some regional governments<\/strong>. Whether Switzerland will uphold its legacy of privacy or redefine it remains uncertain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Switzerland, long seen as a&nbsp;global benchmark for privacy and data protection, is now under scrutiny for proposing a controversial change to its surveillance laws. The amendment could significantly affect the&nbsp;online anonymity of users worldwide, especially those relying on encrypted services based in the country. What does the proposed amendment include The Swiss Federal Council has &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/what-is-the-law-against-online-anonymity-proposed-by-switzerland\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;What is the law against online anonymity proposed by Switzerland&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9317,"featured_media":306747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-306746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306746"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306748,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306746\/revisions\/306748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306746"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=306746"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=306746"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=306746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}