Chat Control: EU states want to legalize comprehensive mass scans indirectly | Hacker News Reader

Chat Control: EU states want to legalize comprehensive mass scans indirectly

heise.de

26 pointssva_8 comments

They will rebrand it and try again as many times as it takes until it passes once, thats how the EU works.

The only way out would be to either pass a law that makes chat control illegal (which is not going to happen) or for chat control to pass and be struck down by the courts.

Even if it is struck down by the courts it could take years for that to happen. Last time it happened with another privacy invading law, I think it took something 7 or 8 years before it was repealed.

Australia takes the censor everything approach, Europe takes the watch everything approach.

The EU has decided to use 1984 as guide instead of a warning.

Between that and the Democracy shield which is basically state paid fact checkers fighting against supposedly foreign interference, can anyone say that the EU is still the best place regarding citizens privacy?

The connection between fact checkers and privacy eludes me. Explain?

The connection is that all of it is part of a major push by the EU commission to regulate speech on the internet in a way that is not compatible with a healthy democracy.

To name a few issues currently at play: - chat control V1 and v2 - social media ban for users less than 16 years old - digital id required to be able to prove one's age and therefore post on social media - end of anonymity for users on the web since now everything you say is tied to your real ID and recorded due to Chat Control - state paid fact checkers that would be empowered to flag and force the removal of content from social media platforms that is deemed false or incorrect (by whom, how, nobody knows)

All of this done in order to supposedly either fight terrorism, the far right or protect the children and it is pushed by the lobbies whose main figurehead is notably Ashton Kutcher who through his foundation just happen to be selling software to detect CP images and is ready to sign a big juicy contract with the EU in case Chat Control v2 passes.

There is a clear erosion of the notion that privacy is a sacred right and it is clear departure from what the EU was supposed to be at the start.

The proponents here on HN and elsewhere who love to claim that the EU is a better place in terms of digital privacy are either deluded or lying to themselves and to other people.

While many decry China's and Russia's authoritarianism, it is clear that the EU is building a digital fortress where everything a person says online will be recorded, catalogued, analyzed and saved in perpetuity in case this person becomes a problem in the future either because of their political views or any other matter that will be deemed important by the EU.

And if you think this is an exaggeration of the situation, you can Google: - Chat Control V1 and V2 - Digital service act - Democracy shield - Protect EU - EU Going Dark working group

All of this stuff has been documented and criticized by privacy activists extensively.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_fallacy

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