Jeez man. Seems like a news story about the EU being on a power trip hits the front page every week now. Thanking my lucky stars I don’t have to live under such a controlling regime.
I live there and it is descending into sheer horror. And all the various member state pass things into national laws then people complain: "we have no choice, it's the EU" as an excuse to make your life miserable.
It's not just about CSAM. The intrusiveness of KYC/AML for example is out of control too. So much that the EU is now apparently trying to correct their trajectory a bit: too many businesses and individuals are complaining that of all the people required to play the compliance/KYC/AML snitches for the states (notary / lawyers / bankers / insurers / accountants / etc.), a bit too many feel empowered by some ego-trip and believe they're suddenly part of the spanish inquisition bent on burning heretics.
Take just any subject: say cryptocurrencies. I know, I know: many here hate on cryptocurrencies, but bear with me... What does the EU do regarding cryptocurrencies? Quickly pass a directive mandating every VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) to report to the kommandantur the name/physical address/virtual address of any EU citizen owning cryptocurrencies. It doesn't only concerns exchanges/brokers like Coinbase: it also concerns companies selling hardware wallets. You may hate on cryptocurrencies: this is not about protecting the people. It's about total, complete and utter surveillance.
Because they can.
They can pass any directive they want and they do so.
At the moment the nation states in the EU still have their own fiscal rules but I'm sure this is coming to an end too.
The EU is very quickly turning into the EURSS. It's horrible to witness.
I'm ready to get the fuck out (I already moved to a less totalitarian country, sadly still inside the EU), but it's hard.
Mostly because pressure from the US. Which is lame af but the US is pressuring sovereign countries to crack down on these things; it’s no different outside the eu (well, there are exceptions, but I doubt you would want to live there talking about totalitarian regimes). Even HSBC, the traditional aml culprit, adheres to this crap even in their home territory under USA pressure.
> I'm ready to get the fuck out
Please do, see how much you enjoy it. I have lived in every continent and the grass looks greener, but it’s not. If you don’t try and just sit here being annoyed, you’ll never know though.
In the meanwhile, vote for the people that are in favour of democracy and privacy.
The EU has a public debate on issues, and consistently rejects them - which is the price of freedom, eternal vigilance.
[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-15/us-police-shoot-man-d...
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/polic...
https://www.comparitech.com/vpn-privacy/the-worlds-most-surv...
No one it's good here. It's like the war between Russia's Wagner vs Ukranian's Azov. A war between thugs.