This week, during the presentation of the 2023 annual review ( pdf ) , the European privacy supervisor EDPS again warned about European plans to monitor chat messages from European citizens. According to the watchdog, this leads to ‘irreversible surveillance’.
At the beginning of 2022, the European Commission came up with a proposal to inspect all chat messages and other communications from citizens for child abuse. In the case of end-to-end encrypted chat services, this should be done via client-side scanning.
The European Parliament voted against the proposal, but came up with its own proposal.
However, the European member states have not yet taken a joint position.
Already in 2022, the EDPS raised the alarm about the European Commission’s proposal to monitor citizens’ communications. It is seen as a serious risk to the fundamental rights of 450 million Europeans.
Source: EDPS warns of European plans to monitor chat messages – Emerce
Sure, so the EU is not much of a democracy with the European Council (which is where the actual power is) not being elected at all, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a surveillance police state.
Robin Edgar
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