The IAB co-signed last week an open letter together with cybersecurity experts, researchers, and civil society organisations from across the globe to warn against the risks on the right to privacy of citizens and secure online communications of the EU’s eIDAS reform.

In April 2022, individual members of the IAB signed a similar letter.

Last Wednesday, on Nov 8 the negotiation of the European Union has concluded without appropriately addressing the concerns raised by technical experts and civil society. A full report by Epicentre.works, facilitators of the open letter, has been posted.

The IAB remains concerned that the regulatory requirement to mandate the use and support of specific Internet infrastructure, especially without establishing rules for operation and control within an open forum, endangers Internet security and creates a precedent of governmental control that has the potential for misuse. We encourage the IETF community and broader Internet community to continuously raise these concerns.