CCC | EU Commission wants to screen all chat messages
On Wednesday, May 11, 2022, the EU Commission is expected to publish draft legislation on the so-called chat control. The plan is to establish an AI-based classification of all message content and images directly on our devices. This so-called "client-side scanning" would be an attack on every confidential communication.
The draft plans to examine all communication content directly on our devices and to extract it in case of suspicion. This client-side scanning would not be the first excessive and misguided surveillance method justified by the fight against child abuse.
Undoubtly the victims of child abuse need much more and better support, but chat control is an excessive approach, easy to circumvent and focuses on the wrong place. With zero chance of success in terms of the actual goal, an unprecedented monitoring tool is to be introduced.
The proposed regulation would require every device to scan every message for images of child abuse and contact between criminals and children. If such content is detected in a message, it would be routed directly to a supervisory authority or the police.
