Patrick Breyera well-known German politician committed to the defense of digital rights, MEP and member of the Pirate Party, returned to the burning topic of the bill known as Chat Control 2.0 which could force messaging app developers to allow third parties access to the content of their private messages, without any authorization from the users involved.
The new regulation now seemed to be on its way out, after the many criticisms received from many quarters. The prevailing opinion, in fact, is that there was an enormous disproportion between the need to crack down on any online crimes and the introduction of a mass surveillance system. This, in fact, would be Chat Control 2.0 to many observers.
The “no” side had prevailed in October 2023 and the introduction of the Chat Control 2.0 standard in Europe had been postponed. Breyer, however, explained that the process of approving the bill has actually continued. So much so that the parliamentarian also shared what appears to all intents and purposes to be the updated draft of the provision (it could even potentially come into force as early as June 2024).
Chat Control breaks end-to-end encryption and threatens the confidentiality of communications
Breyer recalls that if the provisions contained in the European standard were to be truly applied, the managers of the main messaging network they would find themselves obliged to report messages with suspicious contents, which in turn would be examined by responsible parties.
An activity that threatens the foundations of crittografia end-to-end, a real conquest of users. The latter, at least until today, have in fact been able to communicate with each other certain that their messages could not be read by third parties. At least with apps that support end-to-end encryption of the communication channel.
And it’s even more incredible, Breyer argues, than tall European Union officials they seem to be looking exemptions, together with other subjects, with respect to the regulation presented. And it reports what was highlighted by the French organization Context: “EU interior ministers wish exempt professional accounts of intelligence agency, police and military personnel from the planned scanning of chats and messages“. Furthermore, in addition to content managed by ministers, police and intelligence personnel, any messages classified as “professional secrets” should also be exempt from automated processing technology. content scanningwhich instead involves all the other citizens of the Union.
It is not possible to establish with certainty whether a communication is a “professional secret”
For his part, Breyer states that “no provider and no algorithm can know or determine whether a chat is conducted with doctors, therapists, lawyers, etc., so as to exempt it from chat monitoring“. And it underlines, once again, how a regulation such as Chat Control 2.0 could introduce a concept of mass surveillance, so dear to some Asian countries, destined to put our children in serious difficulty, rather than protect them.
And if on the one hand the European Ombudsman had “picked on” the Commission on the subject of Chat Control 2.0, the Germania reiterates his firmness opposition. Berlin, in fact, continues with its head down in the process of approving a law which, instead, establishes the right to use encryption for all citizens.