EU’s “Chat Control 2.0” Raises Surveillance Concerns
The Council of the European Union is advancing a regulation called “Chat Control 2.0.” It aims to allow online platforms to identify indicators of child abuse in user communications. Some commentators warn that the regulation will legalize mass surveillance, according to a study by journalists from the Polish economic news portal “wnp.pl”.
The Council of the EU has adopted a bill intended to protect children.
The EU Council regulation makes it possible to justify granting authorities in EU countries the ability to request internet service providers to remove content. This,in turn,raises concerns about violations of Internet users’ privacy.
After months of debate, the Council of the European Union has agreed on a common position on a draft EU regulation known as “Chat Control 2.0”. The rules present a serious problem. They aim to prevent the exploitation of children, including the transmission of child sexual exploitation material. Though, privacy advocates fear that the new law will be misused to monitor online communications.
Negotiations between the Council,the European Commission,and the European Parliament are planned. Before adopting the regulation, the EU institutions must prepare a joint proposal.
Where did the idea for interaction scanning come from?
In May 2022, the European Commission proposed a regulation that would help combat the sexual exploitation of children.It requires Internet service providers, including messaging apps, to detect, report, and remove such material. The Commission also proposed the creation of a new central agency to support the implementation of the regulation with the help of national authorities.
Since then, the European Union has been negotiating this regulation. Of greatest concern is the concept of scanning private messages, known as chat monitoring. This is why the regulation is widely known as “chat Control 2.0”.
How does chat monitoring work?
Before encrypting a message and sending it to another person,the system analyzes the messaging service provider’s algorithm locally on the sender’s phone. The system creates a digital fingerprint, or “hash code,” from the content and then compares it to a database of CSAM patterns compiled by an EU agency. if the algorithm considers a message suspicious, it automatically flags it and generates a message for the surveillance system. The user is not notified. He doesn’t necessarily need to be suspicious either – all messages would be scanned regularly.
Previously reviewed versions of the rules suggested that such a mechanism could also apply to encrypted communications made using platforms such as signal, WhatsApp and Proton. This obligation would also apply to services such as Dropbox.
“It would open the door to mass surveillance of private conversations and weaken the technical safeguards that ensure privacy and confidentiality. Passing this law would also violate press freedom,” commented the European Center for Freedom of the Press and Media (a think tank founded in germany). The proposals were also criticized by the European Data Protection Board.