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As the EU Council approaches a vote on the so-called “Chat Control” legislation, Germany may become the crucial element.
Proposed by Denmark, the legislation would essentially abolish encrypted messaging, mandating services like Telegram, WhatsApp, and Signal to permit regulators to examine messages prior to their encryption and transmission.
Lawmakers from 15 EU member nations have expressed support for the measure, but these nations do not represent at least 65% of the EU population, indicating they require additional backing.
Germany has remained ambivalent regarding endorsement of the legislation, and its support could significantly undermine privacy across Europe.
EU Chat Control bill seeks to combat child exploitation
The Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse (CSA), commonly referred to as the “Chat Control” regulation, was initially introduced by then-European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson in 2022. Its goal is to curb the proliferation of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) by, among other measures, screening messages before encryption. The legislation has previously failed to garner the necessary support for advancement.
On July 1, the inaugural day of Denmark’s presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU Council), the nation announced that the directive would be given “high priority.”
Since the beginning of Denmark’s six-month leadership of the council, member nations have been consolidating their stances, which they are expected to finalize prior to a meeting on Sept. 12 and a forthcoming vote on Oct. 14.
The supporting coalition requires further backing to achieve the 65% benchmark of the EU populace and secure a qualified majority. Six nations remain undecided, as per Fight Chat Control, an activist group against the regulation:
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Estonia
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Germany
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Greece
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Luxembourg
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Romania
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Slovenia.
Among these nations, Germany is pivotal to influence the outcome of the EU Council vote. Its 83 million residents would elevate the population of countries backing Chat Control to approximately 322 million, or 71% of the EU. The combined population of the other five nations, even if they endorsed the proposal, is insufficient to form a substantial demographic bloc.
Related: EU initiative to scan all private messages receives traction
According to Fight Chat Control, many German members of the European Parliament (MEPs) oppose the proposed law. Referencing documents from a July 11 meeting leaked to German outlet Netzpolitik.org, resistance to Chat Control extends across the political spectrum. MEPs from the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen and Alternative für Deutschland — representing the center-left and far-right of the German opposition, respectively — are against Chat Control.
However, a similarly large contingent from the ruling Social Democrats, Christian Democrats, and Social Democratic Union of Bavaria are reportedly undecided.
Concerns arise that these undecided legislators may be inclined to extend existing German legislation to encompass the entire EU.
Germany currently possesses laws allowing law enforcement to bypass encryption utilized by popular messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Signal. In 2021, the Bundestag revised laws to permit the police to intercept communications of “individuals against whom no suspicion of a crime has yet been established, and therefore no criminal procedure can currently be initiated.”
Software developer and privacy rights advocate Jikra Knesl stated, “A version of ChatControl already exists in Germany. Companies like Meta are relaying their reports to the police.”
If implemented across the EU, it could affect “millions of innocent individuals whose residences might be searched even when they have committed no wrongdoing,” he added.
Civil society rallies against Chat Control
As the decision nears, civil liberties organizations, activists, and even European parliamentarians have voiced their opposition to Chat Control.
Emmanouil Fragkos, a member of the European Parliament from the right-wing Greek Solution party, put forth a parliamentary inquiry regarding Chat Control in July. He remarked that a review of the legislation “has raised new, serious concerns about the respect for fundamental rights within the EU.”
Oliver Laas, a junior philosophy lecturer at Tallinn University, expressed in an op-ed on Monday that legislation like Chat Control “is establishing a foundation for potential democratic regression in the future.”
“In a world gradually but inevitably becoming more authoritarian, individuals are not safeguarded by the state’s oversight capabilities being curtailed by law — they are secured by the complete absence of such capabilities,” he remarked.
Another significant issue revolves around the implications Chat Control could have on the functionality of encryption technology.
Fragkos noted that instituting mandatory weaknesses in encryption would “create vulnerabilities that could be exploited by cybercriminals, rival nations, and terrorist factions.”
The FZI Research Center for Information Technology, a nonprofit body specializing in IT research, published a position statement opposing Chat Control last year. It recognized that the objective of the legislation is unambiguous, but the execution of Chat Control would undermine both user privacy rights and the functionality of encryption technology.
Sascha Mann, a policy influencer for digitalization and digital rights at Volt Europa — a federalist, pan-European political party in the European Parliament — also challenged the effectiveness of Chat Control.
“Apart from the issues concerning privacy and consent, chat control may even obstruct law enforcement’s capacity to effectively combat sexual exploitation,” he remarked. The overwhelming quantity of content transmitted via messaging platforms in the EU would “result in numerous false positive scenarios that would drain law enforcement resources.”
Approximately 400 researchers from global academic institutions acknowledged this issue of false positives in an open letter signed today.
“Current studies reaffirm that cutting-edge detectors would yield disturbingly high rates of false positives and false negatives, rendering them unsuitable for large-scale detection campaigns affecting hundreds of millions of users as necessitated by the proposed regulation,” stated the letter.
Mann suggested it would be more prudent for the EU to enact solutions proposed by organizations combating CSA. These solutions included the deletion of CSA materials online post-investigation and the enhancement of law enforcement resources.
This Friday, Europe will discover whether these concerns are sufficient to persuade undecided MEPs and determine the future of digital privacy, or its absence, in the EU.
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