Do you think the European Chat Control Act is legitimate?
For those who don't know:
The EU has proposed a law intended to protect children from online abuse.
But the draft includes a highly controversial measure: mandatory scanning (client-side scanning) of private communications, including encrypted ones, for child sexual abuse material.
Experts and authorities (such as the EDPB and EDPS) warn that this kind of mandatory scanning could lead to mass surveillance through automated tools, posing a serious threat to fundamental rights like privacy and data protection.
According to reports, 15 member states support the proposal, 6 are against it, and 6 remain undecided. The law would not apply to political officials, but it would affect the “reading of communication” of ordinary citizens.
Many critics claim that politicians hide this act behind children, and that the real reason is to have control over citizens (e.g. over their stance on political direction, etc.). To me... it sounds a bit like 1984.
What’s your opinion on this?
Replies
App Finder
I think it should be possible to implement client-side scanning such that privacy is retained. If the client app scans the content on the client device but ensures that only properly encrypted content is sent away, it clearly would still be ensured that no 3rd party can see the content. The app could then simply block sending the content if abuse material was detected. If the app would in this case also send some info about the scan result to the provider / authorities, this would be already more problematic, but I think maybe an acceptable compromise could be found for this.
But I'm not sure how effective any "mandatory scanning" could be, since preventing the use of then "illegal" messaging / encryption software surely could not be prevented without unacceptable mass surveillance. But maybe it would still be worth a try.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@konrad_sx It seems like you have an idea for a product! :D Wanna implement that? :D
App Finder
@busmark_w_nika no, working on something else, would have to be implemented by the messenger developers anyway.
You're absolutely right Nika, the Chat Control proposal sounds worrying. Protecting kids is obviously important, but scanning private, encrypted chats feels like it could slide into mass surveillance. Pretty scary.
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@nitin_joshi IMO, I do not think they could protect kids that way. Predators always find their way.
@busmark_w_nika are you also a part of EU?
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@nitin_joshi Slovakia? Yes, it is since 2004, and we also became a part of the Eurozone in 2008, so we use € as currency.
Nika, I agree with you. It is a slippery slope into mass surveillance. We are in scary times already and I think it will get worse.
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@buckeyeduo are you also from any of those EU countries?
No, Australia is heading the way to. In fact, I have dual citizenship, Australia and the US.
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@buckeyeduo I read that Australia is restricting 16 y o from social media. It seems that the UK and Australia are very strict about that.
Thank you for pointing this out, definitely something I need to be aware of as i currently working on new social media. Could you clarify what “mandatory scanning” would actually entail in practice and how it’s expected to be implemented on private messages? I support measures truly focused on protecting children’s safety and privacy, but if this becomes a tool for political surveillance, I cannot back it.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@sionabednego To be honest, I am not so sure how the European Union wants to implement that, but it sounded like they wanna scan every message before it is sent to the other side.