Is the EU’s Chat Control law undermining online privacy?

Sub: Science and tech

Sec: Awareness in IT and computer

EU’s Proposed “Chat Control” Law:

The law, proposed in May 2022 by European Commissioner Ylva Johansson, aims to combat online child sexual abuse but has been criticized and termed “Chat Control.”
France, Germany, and Poland oppose the clause allowing mass scanning of private messages, fearing it breaks end-to-end encryption.
Tech companies, trade associations, and privacy experts also oppose the regulation.
Spain and Ireland’s Interior Ministers support the proposal, while children’s rights advocates criticize EU leaders for not effectively tackling online child sexual abuse.

Concerns Against the Proposal:

Scanning end-to-end encrypted messages is controversial due to the creation of backdoors that third parties could exploit, compromising privacy.
Apple faced backlash in 2021 for its NeuralHash feature designed to scan iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM), leading to its abandonment in 2022 due to privacy concerns and potential misuse by authoritarian governments.
UK’s similar attempt through the Online Safety Bill faced pushback from messaging app owners like WhatsApp and Signal, leading to the postponement of the proposal.

Status of EU’s Chat Control Law:

A new draft, to be reviewed on June 30, omits scanning text messages and audio, focusing instead on photos, videos, and URLs.
The proposal includes a controversial consent mechanism where users refusing scanning would be blocked from sending/receiving images, videos, and links.
The European Commission proposed a temporary derogation of the E-Privacy Directive, allowing specific service providers to scan messages for CSAM, set to expire in early August, with plans for extension stalled.
Concerns about government surveillance are echoed, noting the potential impact on democracies and autocracies alike.

Source: TH