Cross posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/45797826
In a sensational turn of events in the fight against Chat Control, a majority in the European Parliament voted today to end the untargeted mass scanning of private communications. In doing so, the Parliament firmly rejected the error-prone and unconstitutional surveillance practices of recent years. Pressure is now mounting on EU governments to respect the MEPs’ vote and bury untargeted mass surveillance in Europe once and for all.
Amendment 5, tabled by Pirate Party MEP Markéta Gregorová (Greens/EFA group) and adopted by a narrow margin, demands that any scanning of private communications must be strictly limited to individual users or groups of users suspected by a competent judicial authority of being linked to child sexual abuse. This aligns with the European Parliament’s 2023 mandate on the permanent Chat Control regulation (CSAR).
Based on today’s mandate, trilogue negotiations between the EU Parliament, the European Commission, and the Council of the EU are set to begin as early as tomorrow. Negotiations are taking place under extreme time pressure, as the current interim regulation authorizing Chat Control expires on April 6. The EU Commission and the vast majority of the EU Council—except for Italy—have so far categorically rejected any restrictions on untargeted mass scanning.
Digital freedom fighter Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) commented on the historic vote:
“Today is a sensational victory for the countless citizens who made calls and sent emails to save their digital privacy of correspondence. Digital privacy is alive! Just as with our physical mail, the warrantless screening of our digital communications must remain taboo. EU governments must finally realize that true child protection requires secure apps (‘Security by Design’), the removal of illegal material at the source, and targeted investigations against suspects with a judicial warrant—not overreaching, pointless mass surveillance.”
The Hard Facts: Why Chat Control has failed spectacularly
Continue reading here - https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/historic-chat-control-vote-in-the-eu-parliament-meps-vote-to-end-untargeted-mass-scanning-of-private-chats/
Alright everyone, good result. See you all here in a couple years for the new iteration
I’m sure it will be a lot sooner than that.
Patrick Breyer is right to claim a win but he’s celebrating too much IMO. They’ll keep coming and I’m sure he knows it.
Great news for the EU! But don’t anybody think this is it. There are powerful interests behind mass surveilance. And selling more ads is just one of the least malevolent. These interests are probably not done trying to earn a € or $ more.
This is definitely not it, some corrupt politician will start it all again under a different guise after some unfettered lobbying by meta and the like. But great for the here and now to know that the public sway can at least once beat the heavy lobbying…
Thank fucking god, someone finally realized opening everyone’s private messages would be similar to opening everyone’s written leters at the post office before they get sent.
Also people need to continue to stay vigilant, in case this does come back “rebrand” as something new.
Did they actually decide against mass scanning for good or are they just going to rebrand it again? I’m confused
One of two things as I see it. They’ll either slightly rephrase/rebrand like they did before, or they’ll just grab hold of some incident (terrorism or child related), claim “this changes everything” and just force a new vote on the topic.
WOO! This is proof that we actually have power! I am so relieved to see that democracy still exists here!
I wish I were as optimistic as you.
I’m sure they will be back… will take the w tho.
Meanwhile we have ProtectEU it almost same shit under different name
