Get Permission Europol, the EU's law enforcement intelligence agency, and the European Commission are launching a new decryption platform to help law enforcement agencies decrypt data that has been obtained as part of a criminal investigation. By circumventing encryption rather than weakening it, Europol's approach aims to satisfy both law enforcement agencies and privacy advocates, says Jim Killock, executive director at the Open Rights Group. "Where police are authorized by an independent authority to gain passwords or crack a device, then getting around encryption is legitimate," he says. "What is not legitimate is weakening encryption for the vast majority of us who are innocent bystanders and need security from crime, or stockpiling knowledge of software vulnerabilities which expose everyone to ongoing risks from criminals."