On November 19, the European Union stands poised to vote on one of the most consequential surveillance proposals in its digital history.
The legislation, framed as a measure to protect children online, has drawn fierce criticism from a bloc of senior European academics who argue that the proposal, even in its revised form, walks a perilous line. It invites mass surveillance under a veil of voluntarism and does so with little evidence that it will improve safety.
This latest draft of the so-called “Chat Control” law has already been softened from its original form. The Council of the European Union, facing mounting public backlash, stripped out provisions for mandatory on-device scanning of encrypted communications.
But for researchers closely following the legislation, the revised proposal is anything but a retreat.
“The proposal reinstates the option to analyze content beyond images and URLs – including text and video – and to detect newly generated CSAM,” reads the open letter, signed by 18 prominent academics from institutions such as ETH Zurich, KU Leuven, and the Max Planck Institute.
We obtained a copy of the letter for you here.
The argument, in essence, is that the Council’s latest version doesn’t eliminate the risk. It only rebrands it.
Hellbound and Down 