The Federal Department of Justice and Police (FDJP), a Swiss authority responsible for overseeing law enforcement and public security, wants to impose a new rule that would grant it extensive surveillance powers over online communications.

Keep in mind, this change wouldn’t go to a vote in Parliament and could be ratified without much public disclosure. If enacted, private encrypted email and messaging services like Proton Mail, Threema, and others could be seriously affected. And don’t even get me started on what this could mean for VPN providers.

Moreover, users might be required to hand over personal information, like a phone number or official ID, making anonymous sign-ups nearly impossible.

And it gets even worse — organizations would be required to hand over user data in plain text when requested, except for messages that are securely end-to-end encrypted between users.