EU now one step away from reviving private message scanning rules

Post by watwut » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 6:53 PM UTC

munk-a wrote: post #21

pton_xd wrote: post #17

I don't understand the EU's position on privacy. On the one hand, they enacted GDPR to give you control over access to your personal data. On the other, they need access to all of your data.

The EU's position on privacy seems pretty consistent to me - they're against your data being monetized by private entities but not against building governmental tools to monitor private entities. In good faith this could be summarized as "Personal data should be used for public safety but not for profit" - but that philosophy is definitely a strong contrast with the basic American philosophy towards civil liberties.

Post by JoshTriplett » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 6:56 PM UTC

sscaryterry wrote: post #28

JoshTriplett wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the position can best be approximated as "companies should not be able to do this, but you should trust your government to do this to you". (That's a bad position that needs to be defeated every time it arises, but it's a consistent position.)

Given the choice of trust between, lets say Amazon/Meta/Google and the EU (or some European government), 9 times out of 10, the EU is the lesser evil.

Post by Cider9986 » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 6:59 PM UTC

inigyou wrote: post #16

The Chat Control 1.0 rule is simply that organisations like Meta are allowed to scan messages if they want to. In other words your Facebook messages are not private from Facebook. Surely we already knew and expected that. Chat Control 2.0 is the worrying one because it mandates scanning and bans E2EE. These two things should not have both been given the same branding.

Post by john_strinlai » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 7:02 PM UTC

ButlerianJihad wrote: post #24

yubblegum wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think this is only going to be in Europe? This will be the global norm modulo some astroid hitting earth or civilizational crash. The trajectory is crystal clear: access to information (AI), control over personal finance (CBDC), privacy of personal communications (handful of big tech MITM in everything), metered social interactions (today China, tomorrow the world over).

You say that like it’s a bad fnord

Post by bossyTeacher » Wed, Jul 08, 2026, 7:02 PM UTC

pton_xd wrote: post #17

I don't understand the EU's position on privacy. On the one hand, they enacted GDPR to give you control over access to your personal data. On the other, they need access to all of your data.