As our lives increasingly move online, use of online channels for private communication has become an everyday feature. In this context, encryption of electronic devices and communication is a standard tool. It serves as a key privacy enhancing technology as well as a cybersecurity guarantee, recognised also in EU law and policy instruments [1] EU Cyber Resilience Act refers to encryption as a means of protecting the confidentiality of stored, transmitted or otherwise processed data, see Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2024 on horizontal cybersecurity requirements for products with digital elements and amending Regulations (EU) No 168/2013 and (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2020/1828 (Cyber Resilience Act), Annex I, Part 1, 2(e); European Commission’s Roadmap for lawful and effective access to data for law enforcement, highlights that encryption and other cybersecurity measures play an important role in protecting information systems from espionage and disruption and securing communications, privacy and personal data. See European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, Roadmap for lawful and effective access to data for law enforcement, COM/2025/349 final, 24 June 2025.
.  Human rights bodies [2] For example, United Nations, The right to privacy in the digital age: Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, A/HRC/51/17, 4 August 2022; European Data Protection Board and European Data Protection Supervisor, Joint Opinion 04/2022 on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse, 28 July 2022.
have underlined the vital role of encryption as an enabler of human rights. Besides the fundamental right to respect for private and family life, enshrined in Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘Charter’), preserving confidentiality of communications also contributes to safeguarding other rights such as the protection of personal data (Article 8 Charter) or freedom of expression and information (Article 11 Charter).

At the same time, use of encrypted devices or communication by criminals has been repeatedly highlighted as a growing challenge for law enforcement, as encryption can make it difficult to access digital data needed for criminal investigations. Following the ProtectEU Internal Security Strategy [3] European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on ProtectEU: a European Internal Security Strategy, COM/2025/148 final, 1 April 2025.
issued in 2025, the European Commission is preparing a Technology Roadmap on encryption, to identify and assess technological solutions that would enable law enforcement authorities to access encrypted data in a lawful manner in the context of investigations, while safeguarding cybersecurity and fundamental rights.

This short paper contributes to these discussions. It presents data on how concerned people are in the EU about various actors accessing their private information which is communicated online, as well as the importance that people attach to encryption to protect such communication.

The findings are based on an EU-wide Eurobarometer survey of 26,453 respondents, with specific questions developed by FRA.  For more detail on the methodology and data collection, see About the data collection. Separately, FRA is also planning to release findings from its ongoing qualitative research on the fundamental rights implications – in practice – of accessing digital data for criminal investigations, which involves in-depth interviews with practitioners from law enforcement, prosecution and judicial authorities, as well as defence lawyers, service providers and legal and technical experts.