Online services should be required to search the private communications of their users. We already HERE in . The previous voluntary monitoring of chats would then be prohibited. However, countries like Germany still want to allow voluntary scanning.

The European Union plans to comprehensively monitor private chats and messages on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp to combat sexual violence against children. This proposal has far-reaching implications for the privacy of EU citizens and is criticized by many data protection experts.

Background: With chat monitoring, the EU Commission wants to turn smartphones into automated monitoring devices using so-called “client-side scanning”. They are intended to examine all private and public communication and thus undermine end-to-end encryption on end devices. The legislative package with chat monitoring also provides for expanded upload filters, age controls for apps and other online services and network blocks and would thus restrict free internet use in a way that is unprecedented. The plans of the von der Leyen Commission are rejected by civil society, but also by parts of politics, for example by the youth organizations of the traffic light parties. Experts in the German Bundestag and the European Parliament have repeatedly warned that chat control is a disproportionate interference with the fundamental rights of all EU citizens and cannot fulfill the stated goal of child protection.

The website Netzpolitik.org published the European Commission's draft law , which runs to 135 pages. The draft is entitled “Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL – laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse”. and combating child sexual abuse.”

to oblige both messaging service operators and Internet service providers to introduce technologies that prevent the distribution of child pornography and the initiation of contact with children (grooming) on ​​the Internet.

What is cyber grooming? Cybergrooming is the targeted targeting of children and (especially underage) young people over the Internet, for example in chats, in a manipulative manner with the aim of involving the victim in a trusting relationship. The relationship of trust is then exploited to commit crimes such as sexually motivated attacks, rape or, in the worst case, murder.

The European Data Protection Supervisor, Wojciech Wiewiórowski, condemns the proposal and says it is not compatible with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. Legal Affairs Committee of the Irish Parliament also rejects the planned EU-wide chat control as it would endanger the security, privacy and freedom of expression of all citizens.

The European Commission has presented a draft in which it wants to oblige operators of messenger services and Internet service providers to use techniques that prevent the distribution of child pornography and the recruitment of children online. Despite this objective, there are concerns about scanning private communications at EU level.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wants chat control

Netzpolitik.org German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser sees no problem with these measures, even though they were rejected current coalition agreement

Maximilian Funke-Kaiser, digital policy spokesman for the FDP, criticizes Faeser

Maximilian Funke-Kaiser, digital policy spokesman for the FDP, criticizes Faeser and emphasizes that the confidentiality of letters also applies in the digital space. He also tweeted: “Unfortunately, Nancy Faeser blocks our concerns and thereby violates the coalition agreement, which clearly rejects #chatcontrol. We continue to work to ensure that she finally gives in in the next statement.”

Marco Buschmann, Federal Minister of Justice tweets...

The fact remains: #Chat controls have no place in a constitutional state. We as the federal government reject any unfounded surveillance of private communications. “ and “ Preserving and strengthening civil rights is important to me. Germany cannot therefore give the green light to plans for #chat control. Unprovoked mass surveillance and liberal democracy do not go together. We have not communicated anything else to Brussels.”

Stop Chat Control initiative is calling for protests against the planned surveillance in order to save the possibility of private communication.

Austria is opposing the EU Commission

As futurezone reports, Austria was the first country in the European Union to announce that it clearly rejects the EU Commission's proposed regulation. This was decided in a resolution in an EU subcommittee of the National Council. We HERE in 2022. In a current press release dated April 14, 2023, NEOS wrote “NEOS: Federal government must firmly reject planned chat controls! Scherak: “We have always warned that the EU Commission’s draft does not comply with fundamental rights. The project must therefore under no circumstances be implemented in the planned form.”

Overall, the debate highlights the concerns that many data protection experts and political representatives have about mass surveillance of private chats and messages for no reason. The question of compatibility with the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and the balance between security and privacy are at the heart of this discussion.

Sources:


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