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It was nearly two years ago that I wrote this article[1] about the EU #ChatControl surveillance directive on behalf of the @cryptpad team.

Very little has changed since then. Experts in technology, law, and policy all agree that the proposal undermines basic European rights, that it will be abused by authoritarian member states, and that the proposed tech solutions cannot possibly do the job the supporting legislators have claimed.

Nevertheless, they have persisted, claiming the support of "expert testimony" that overwhelmingly consists of unsupported claims by lobbyists associated with law enforcement and defense contractors who stand to benefit financially from its implementation.

A vote is expected to take place on June 19th. These have been scheduled and delayed multiple times already, but this it feels like they might get away with it. There is a lot going on in the EU at the moment, and people are both distracted and tired from fighting this for so long.

I'll try to make resistance easier by collecting some suggested actions below, with links.

[1]: blog.cryptpad.org/2022/05/19/a…

in reply to ansuz / ऐरन

First, review posts with the #ChatControl hashtag, as there are lots of well-informed people sharing reliable information.

@quincy linked to a directory of the relevant contact points for each EU member state and requested that people write a (polite) letter, so if you have voting rights in the EU that's a good place to start.

chaos.social/@quincy/112630111…


Urgent action needed to save secrecy of correspondence in the #EU:

Write to your country's delegates to stop plans for "client side scanning" of your devices, your photos, your family chat by some central entity.

It cannot hurt to send a (polite) letter before Wednesday 19, 2024 (day of the vote in the council).

op.europa.eu/en/web/who-is-who…


in reply to ansuz / ऐरन

As a leading voice of the German Pirate party and a member of EU parliament, Patrick Breyer (@echo_pbreyer) has actively opposed the proposed legislation throughout its lifetime.

He (and perhaps also his team?) have maintained a comprehensive, fact-checked summary of the proposal's status, with a practical "What can you do" section:

patrick-breyer.de/en/posts/cha…