Chat Control Stumbles Again As Eu Retreats From Mandatory Scanning

EU lawmakers stripped out mandatory client-side message scanning from the latest Chat Control draft, but invasive age checks and voluntary scanning remain.

European Union efforts to mandate scanning of private messages have been blocked again, marking another setback for the bloc’s proposed Chat Control legislation, and another win for digital rights activists.

German digital rights activist and Pirate Party Germany politician Patrick Breyer wrote in a Nov. 15 X post that a backdoor, which he said mandated client-side scanning of messages, had been removed from the latest draft of the “Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse” proposal, more commonly known as Chat Control. According to him, the addition of the following line under the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU — which also saw the introduction of the backdoor clause — resolved the issue:

The draft used vague language referring to “all possible risk mitigation measures,” which, according to critics, would allow authorities to force service providers to implement chat scanning, especially since chat-scanning infrastructure is already in place for voluntary implementation.

In a Nov. 11 post, Breyer described the move as “political deception of the highest order,” noting that Chat Control is “coming back through the back door — disguised, more dangerous, and more comprehensive.” “The public is being played for fools,“ he said. Denmark introduced the backdoor amid an apparent step down in monitoring requirements in the bill.

This is the latest attempt by the EU Council to introduce mandatory chat scanning, including checking encrypted messages before they are sent from user devices. The previous attempt failed after Germany’s decision to reject the draft halted its progress.

Breyer wrote in his X post that only mandatory chat control was removed from the proposal, which still contains anonymity-breaking age checks for communication services and voluntary mass scanning. He added that “the fight continues next year!”

The legislative process is still ongoing, and the current version of the bill is not set in stone. On Nov. 19, the Committee of the Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the European Union (COREPER II) is expected to endorse it without debate, listing it as a “non-discussion” item. Once this body signs off, the text goes to a formal Council of Ministers meeting, where it may be adopted without discussion unless a minister specifically

Source: CoinTelegraph