Well, not yet, it doesn't. But EU is eagerly pushing their bill forward. The bill in question is the Chat Control 2.0, or the "COM(2022) 209 final" if you want to read it yourself. This proposal aims to prevent spreading of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). It obviously sounds like a valid and sensible piece of legislation. Yet this bill mandates blanket screening of all personal communicators - chats, emails, in-game chats, and everything in between. It would be the successor to the current "Chat Control 1.0" legislation which allows for screening of chats on the basis of a court order. From this description you may not think it's a big deal. Let me try to change your mind.
Do you have any idea how many texts, chats, emails, etc. are exchanged daily between all citizens of the EU? It would obviously be an impossible task for people to monitor them all. The project doesn't specify the way this "upload moderation" should be done, leaving it to the app providers instead. This means two options: it will either be done by people or by an AI algorithm.
While initially you may favour the former, it means a whole organisation will have access to your private texts, calls, images - everything. And not only will they have theoretical access, they will be mandated to read through everything. All your confessions made to a friend, if you ever had online therapy, all your private sexts to your significant other, every not-safe-for-work photo you sent in the heat of the moment. It wouldn't be the first time when technical workers breached users' privacy, like in the case of a woman from Oregon, who sent her phone for repairs only for the techs to post her naked photos and video onto her own Facebook page. At least she found out and even won the lawsuit. But how many victims of such crimes ever find out? How many people had their photos stolen but have no clue to this day?
The second option hopefully would not steal your photos. However AI does not know how to read context for the time being. "Chat Control 2.0" aims to put an end to grooming. But how is an AI model to discern between a girlfriend complementing her partner and a groomer love bombing their victim? Even without the added complexity of context, automatic CSAM flagging is having trouble. As the ex-MEP Patrick Breyer states 80% of the content reported to Swiss police as CSAM, turned out to be a false positive. Similar story happened in Ireland where in 2020 only a fifth of the flagged content was confirmed as harmful. Of course it's good that the actual CSAM was found, but it begs the question of the consequences of implementing such an inaccurate tool on a much broader scale.
Limited technology isn't the biggest issue. Despite having a noble and honourable goal, this legislation targets the most basic freedom - privacy. It gives the government, or corporations, the tools to monitor every single person who uses any communicator. It's reminiscent of the Patriot Act, which passed through American Congress under the guise of war on terror and ended up being a tool for mass invigilation. And despite all the money poured into it, they cannot stop a presidential assassination attempt.
When it comes to the right to protest Canada was first to freeze personal bank accounts of protesting truckers. EU countries are guilty too. For example Poland used spyware to spy on the government's political opponents.
Our governments are not above invigilation. This legislation would be "the point of no return" as stated by the European Data Protection Supervisor. Despite this legislation's noble intention, I think the potential problems it raises far outweigh the benefits and it's goal can be achieved through less invasive means.
The legislation has been discussed for over a year now. It didn't pass in June, stopped by a small blocking minority, and was withdrawn from October's agenda for the same reason. But the EU Commission keeps on trying to force it through, despite the pushbacks from MEPs. Sadly, there isn't much we can do. This must be stopped in the European Parliament. Speaking out against this bill is a voice for fundamental freedoms, the right to protest, and the right to privacy. It's a voice against the first step onto the slippery slope of complete invigilation. It is a voice we must use to speak out against this nightmare.
The article, as well as the complete second volume of the Stance ! Magazine is available here