In the digital realms of our modern era, the concept of privacy stands as a bastion against the encroaching shadows of surveillance and control. Yet, as the winds of change blow through the corridors of power in Brussels, the very foundations of our digital fortress are under threat. Today, as I stumbled upon this concerning news on LinkedIn, I am compelled to raise the alarm and rally fellow cyber-warriors to defend our rights in the face of impending darkness.
Since the onset of the so-called pandemic, the EU’s efforts to censor public opinion and surveil private communication have accelerated. The rulers in Brussels harbor a fear of their own citizens, who increasingly question the narratives propagated by politicians and compliant media outlets. Following the enactment of the censorship law known as the “Digital Services Act,” the next assault on the right to private and unmonitored communication via chat control is set to be decided today.
A recent leak by the French intelligence service contexte.com has unveiled the latest proposal from the Belgian presidency regarding the introduction of chat control. The leaked proposal, to be discussed in a council working group today, encompasses the entire regulation and is ready for adoption. Political disputes will subsequently be decided in the committee of permanent representatives, with the aim of finalizing chat control by June under the auspices of the EU Council.
The leaked proposal reveals that the extreme initial draft by the EU Commission for chat control is set to be largely unchanged, warns Dr. Patrick Breyer, Member of the European Parliament and opponent of chat control:
“As confirmed by the legal service of the Council, the latest proposal does not alter the nature of the chat control detection orders. Millions of private chats and photos of law-abiding citizens are to be searched and intercepted using unreliable technology, without the individuals even remotely being involved in child abuse – this destroys our digital postal secrecy. Despite lip service to encryption, client-side scanning would effectively bypass secure end-to-end encryption, turning our smartphones into spies – this undermines secure encryption.
Now is the time to stand for privacy and secure encryption, as previously critical EU governments are praising the repackaged plans, undermining the blocking minority. Even the German government has not clearly rejected widespread chat control of unencrypted services. Moreover, a written opinion from the Council’s legal service on this obvious violation of fundamental rights has not yet been obtained.
If the EU governments indeed enter the trilogue negotiations with this radical position on chat control, the Parliament risks gradually abandoning its initial position behind closed doors and compromising on poor and dangerous compromises that jeopardize our online security.”
In particular, Breyer criticizes the leaked text proposal: “The limitation of chat control to ‘high-risk services’ is meaningless, as any communication service can always be abused to send illegal material and thus has a high risk of abuse. The classification of major services would be the responsibility of Ireland – the strongest supporter of chat control. Furthermore, the service used is no justification for the scrutiny of completely law-abiding citizens.
Also, the provision that chats are only to be intercepted after two reports from highly unreliable algorithms is meaningless, as wrongly reported beach photos or consensual sexting are unlikely to consist of only a single photo. The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs herself has stated that the police cannot make use of three out of four intercepted chats.”
The right to privacy has long been fought for and is one of the fundamental pillars of human rights. It is about freedom of thought. Politicians always want to not only dictate what we do but also what we think.
With a law on chat control, the revocation of the right to private and unmonitored communication, EU politics is definitively sliding into the darkest times of Europe and fascism.
Source:
https://tkp.at/2024/04/03/eu-vor-beschluss-zur-aufhebung-des-elektronischen-briefgeheimnisses/
Leaked document:
https://www.patrick-breyer.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-03-28-conseil-csam-compromis-presidence-belge.pdf
Adventures of Cyber Warrioress: Tales from the Digital Realm 
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