Contrary to headlines suggesting the EU has “backed away” from Chat Control, the negotiating mandate endorsed today by EU ambassadors in a close split vote paves the way for a permanent infrastructure of mass surveillance.
While the Council removed the obligation for scanning, the agreed text creates a toxic legal framework that incentivizes US tech giants to scan private communications indiscriminately, introduces mandatory age checks for all internet users, and threatens to exclude teenagers from digital life.
The article is non-paywalled, freely readable on the link --^
Ok, it seems there is little doubt that EU chat control will be implemented. The question then becomes: How can individuals opt out of this? What existing technical solutions are already available, and what needs to be newly developed?
Use free software that doesn’t implement backdoors
Personally, I believe there’s a chance for stopping this. EU is not an authoritarian state. I wouldn’t give up too early – instead would rather fight and provide public pressure for the direction of the law that supports mine and everybody’s freedom.
This is like the 15th time they’ve tried to implement this. The fact that it came up, they were told his is a bad idea, it was shot down, and they STILL want to keep pushing and keep pushing it; what it really aught to tell you is that it’s time to re-evaluate your diagnosis of the EU and its tendencies.
Authoritarianism is on the rise everywhere, because opportunists see vectors to power available everywhere in technology, now that it has firmly propagated among everyday people. They can spread lies and misinformation, and a huge swath of people just fucking buy it. Consent can be manufactured at the drop of a hat.
They can’t allow dissenting opinions or pesky truth tellers to get in the way of their petrofortunes, of their pedo rings, their yachts, their security blankets.
…yet. At this point I wish some aliens had mercy on us and nuked certain parliaments & sniped billinaires on this planet simultaneously, giving us a chance to try & start over.
why would we need aliens to do that? people reclaimed their “chance to try & start over” many times before.
Because hoping for aliens to do it is abstract enough that it doesn’t get someone in trouble for “inciting violence” :p
This comment made me double check if I hadn’t accidentally opened Reddit