Comment by cynicalsecurity
1 day ago
Could this have been a reason UK pushed to separation from the EU?
EU is all for privacy while UK is slowly drifting towards becoming a Stasi state.
1 day ago
Could this have been a reason UK pushed to separation from the EU?
EU is all for privacy while UK is slowly drifting towards becoming a Stasi state.
No, EU is NOT "all for privacy". I don't know where this myth comes from but I see it repeated here often.
1. EU is pushing for mandatory on-device scanning of all your messages (chat control). The current proposal includes scanning of all videos and images all the time for all citizens. The proposal started with analyzing all text too. The discussions are happening behind close doors. EU Ombudsman has accused EU commission of "maladministration", no response.
2. EU is allowing US companies to scan your emails and messages (ePrivacy Derogation). Extended for 2025.
3. EU is pushing for expansion of data retention and to undermine encryption security (EU GoingDark).
"The plan includes the reintroduction and expansion of the retention of citizens’ communications data as well as specific proposals to undermine the secure encryption of data on all connected devices, ranging from cars to smartphones, as well as data processed by service providers and data in transit." https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/eugoingdark-surveillance-pl...
4. EU is pushing for mandatory age verification to use email, messengers and web applications. Citizens will be required to use EU approved verification providers. All accounts will be linked back to your real identity.
5. "Anonymity is not a fundamental right": experts disagree with Europol chief's request for encryption back door (January 22, 2025)
https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/anonymity...
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Do you still believe EU is all for privacy? EU's privacy is deteriorating faster than in any other developed country / bloc. Some of these proposals have been blocked by Germany for now but that is expected to change after the upcoming elections.
< EU is pushing for mandatory on-device scanning of all your messages (chat control)
Again and again, 'Eu' is not pushing anything like that. A few Euparl MPs backed by those like Ashton Kutcher did.
> Eu isnt 'planning' anything like that. Some Euparl MPs backed by people like Ashton Kutcher tried to push a law to spy on all chat apps. Then when the dirty web of American-style regulatory manipulation was exposed, they backed off. It was a proposal for a law by some MPs. Not something 'Eu' did.
How can you say EU isn't planning anything like that when the last meeting to introduce just that was a few weeks ago?
https://www.parlament.gv.at/dokument/XXVIII/EU/9693/imfname_...
Nobody backed off, it's still on the agenda. You are right however that the main lobby comes from US NGOs as exposed by documents coming from EU Commission.
This is blatantly false.
The EU has been pushing to pass the Chat Control law for the last 3 years which is even worse because at least in the UK the government would still need to get a warrant for the data they want whereas the EU wants to analyze your chat messages, emails and pictures in real time without cause or need to justify themselves.
> Again and again, 'Eu' is not pushing anything like that. A few Euparl MPs backed by those like Ashton Kutcher did.
The EU is pushing for this. The EU "Going Dark" group is pushing for this as well as per https://edri.org/our-work/high-level-group-going-dark-outcom...
The fact of the matter is that if the EU was, as it's been said, for privacy this proposal would not have been on the table in the first place. It should have been stopped 3 years ago but here we are again fighting for our rights and our privacy.
And it doesn't matter how many times it gets shot down by some of the countries in the EU, the commission changes a few words and starts the process all over again because they know that sooner or later they will get it through.
You can't have it both ways. You either are for privacy or you are not. If you are then this proposal should never have seen the light of the day and the people pushing for it should have been given a warning that this was off-limits.
Instead they are biding their time so that when the time is right they can come back with a slightly altered but still incredibly damaging proposal hoping that it will pass.
The EU pro-privacy stance is joke. They want access to the same data as the US except they don't have the courage to come out and say it so they wrap it in a nice little gift bag with the words "protect the children" on it.
This is hypocrisy in it's purest form. Then some governments in the EU have the gall to call out authoritarians regimes around the world when they crack down on dissent and free speech? Give me a break!
The Chat Control law was voted down and it would not apply for UK if they'd still be in EU.
It has been voted down twice now. Guess what? That doesn't mean it's dead. It's being worked on as we speak. The last meeting was just a few weeks ago.
https://www.parlament.gv.at/dokument/XXVIII/EU/9693/imfname_...
See my comment above, it doesn't matter that it was voted down. The point is that it was allowed to go to a vote in the first place.
How do you square being pro privacy but at the same time demanding to have unlimited access to all chat messages, emails, pictures and so on of all your citizens without the need for a warrant, without justification and without the citizens having any say on the matter?
The answer is that you can't. You either are for privacy or you are not.
As for not applying to the UK, that is a moot point because as soon as the EU gets it's wish then the UK will demand the same kind of access. Why would the UK government turn down such an opportunity?