I write you something and you listen to me

We have reached the point of paradox: for prevention, everything that is whispered in terms of bits must be under the magnifying glass of those who have the honesty to elevate themselves to super-nosy in digital relations with the assumption that around the corner there is someone who crimes and the criminal must be flushed out.

Communication in privacy

It is true that between two or more people the only way to exchange in privacy is only vis-à-vis in a protected environment and without spy digital devices.

Let’s not forget the very famous supercomputer HAL 9000, feeling threatened by possible deactivation, did everything possible to preserve its existence, being able to read even lips, from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick click here .

Spies have always existed, sneaky people who report facts and circumstances to their direct superiors in a context of subservience.

The proposal with noble principles

Chat Control was proposed on 11 May 2022 as a regulation for the prevention and fight against sexual abuse of minors through a series of measures, including the creation of a series of rules for digital platforms on the detection and reporting of material originating from abuse within the European Union source .

We are faced with a sensational violation of privacy throughout Europe

A strong opposition

Patrick Breyer digital rights activist, jurist and since 2019, member of the European Parliament. From the official website under license CC BY 4.0 I report some significant elements.

The End of the Privacy of Digital Correspondence

The EU Commission proposes to oblige providers to search all private chats, messages, and emails automatically for suspicious content – generally and indiscriminately. The stated aim: To prosecute child sexual exploitation material (CSEM).

The result: Mass surveillance by means of fully automated real-time surveillance of messaging and chats and the end of privacy of digital correspondence.

Other aspects of the proposal include ineffective network blocking, screening of personal cloud storage including private photos, mandatory age verification resulting in the end of anonymous communication, appstore censorship and excluding minors from the digital world.

Chat control 2.0 on every smartphone

On 11 May 2022 the European Commission presented a proposal which would make chat control searching mandatory for all e-mail and messenger providers and would even apply to so far securely end-to-end encrypted communication services. Prior to the proposal a public consultation had revealed that a majority of respondents, both citizens and stakeholders, opposed imposing an obligation to use chat control. Over 80% of respondents opposed its application to end-to-end encrypted communications.

Currently a regulation is in place allowing providers to scan communications voluntarily (so-called “Chat Control 1.0”). So far only some unencrypted US communications services such as Gmail, Facebook/Instagram Messenger, Skype, Snapchat, iCloud email and X-Box apply chat control voluntarily. As a result of the mandatory Chat Control 2.0 proposal, the Commission expects a 3.5-fold increase in scanning reports (by 354%).

Parliament has positioned itself almost unanimously against indiscriminate chat control. With supporters and opponents of mandatory chat control irreconcilably opposed in the EU Council and no common position in sight, the EU Commission proposed a two-year extension of voluntary chat control 1.0 in November 2023 – see timeline and documents. A victim of child sexual abuse and Pirate MEP Patrick Breyer have filed lawsuits to stop the indiscriminate scanning by US big tech companies.

How does this affect you?

Messaging and chat control scanning:

  • All of your chat conversations and emails will be automatically searched for suspicious content. Nothing remains confidential or secret. There is no requirement of a court order or an initial suspicion for searching your messages. It occurs always and automatically.
  • If an algorithms classifies the content of a message as suspicious, your private or intimate photos may be viewed by staff and contractors of international corporations and police authorities. Also your private nude photos may be looked at by people not known to you, in whose hands your photos are not safe.
  • Flirts and sexting may be read by staff and contractors of international corporations and police authorities, because text recognition filters looking for “child grooming” frequently falsely flag intimate chats.
  • You can falsely be reported and investigated for allegedly disseminating child sexual exploitation material. Messaging and chat control algorithms are known to flag completely legal vacation photos of children on a beach, for example. According to Swiss federal police authorities, 80% of all machine-generated reports turn out to be without merit. Similarly in Ireland only 20% of NCMEC reports received in 2020 were confirmed as actual “child abuse material”. Nearly 40% of all criminal investigation procedures initiated in Germany for “child pornography” target minors.
  • On your next trip overseas, you can expect big problems. Machine-generated reports on your communications may have been passed on to other countries, such as the USA, where there is no data privacy – with incalculable results.
  • Intelligence services and hackers may be able to spy on your private chats and emails. The door will be open for anyone with the technical means to read your messages if secure encryption is removed in order to be able to screen messages.
  • This is only the beginning. Once the technology for messaging and chat control has been established, it becomes very easy to use them for other purposes. And who guarantees that these incrimination machines will not be used in the future on our smart phones and laptops?

Age verification:

  • You can no longer set up anonymous e-mail or messenger accounts or chat anonymously without needing to present an ID or your face, making you identifiable and risking data leaks. This inhibits for instance sensitive chats related to sexuality, anonymous media communications with sources (e.g. whistleblowers) as well as political activity.
  • If you are under 16, you will no longer be able to install the following apps from the app store(reason given: risk of grooming): Messenger apps such as Whatsapp, Snapchat, Telegram or Twitter, social media apps such as Instagram, TikTok or Facebook, games such as FIFA, Minecraft, GTA, Call of Duty, Roblox, dating apps, video conferencing apps such as Zoom, Skype, Facetime.
  • If you don’t use an appstore, compliance with the provider’s minimum age will still be verified and enforced.If you are under the minimum age of 16 years you can no longer use Whatsapp due to the proposed age verification requirements; the same applies to the online functions of the game FIFA 23. If you are under 13 years old you’ll no longer be able to use TikTok, Snapchat or Instagram.

What you can do

Do you fear that this law would cause massive damage to fundamental rights and is the wrong approach?

  • What is important now is to increase pressure on the negotiators: Reach out to your government which is negotiating in Council. Contact your government’s permanent representation or your Ministry of the interior. Politely tell them your concerns about chat control (arguments here). Experience shows that phone calls are more effective than e-mails or letters. The official name of the planned mandatory chat control law is “Proposal for a Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse”.
  • Talk about it! Inform others about the dangers of chat control.
  • Generate attention on social media! Use the hashtags #chatcontrol and #secrecyofcorrespondence.
  • Generate media attention! So far very few media have covered the messaging and chat control plans of the EU. Get in touch with newspapers and ask them to cover the subject – online and offline.
  • Ask your e-mail, messaging and chat service providers! Avoid Gmail, Facebook Messenger, outlook.com and the chat function of X-Box, where indiscriminate chat control is already taking place. Ask your email, messaging and chat providers if they generally monitor private messages for suspicious content, or if they plan to do so.

For further information

For more information click here .