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🚨 The EU's #ChatControl proposal is back.
This isn't just another privacy debate.
The proposal could affect:
🔹 End-to-end encryption
🔹 Private messaging
🔹 Client-side scanning
🔹 Age verification
🔹 Digital privacy across Europe
Supporters say it's about protecting children from CSAM. Critics argue it could create a precedent for scanning everyone's private communications before they're encrypted.
I spent hours researching the legislation, the timeline, the technical implications, and what actually happens next.
📖 Read the complete guide here:
👉 https://thecybersecguru.com/news/eu-chat-control-2026-guide/
If you care about:
#Privacy #CyberSecurity #Encryption #EU #DigitalRights #InfoSec #Signal #WhatsApp #Technology #GDPR #InfosecCommunity #NetSec #CyberNews #OnlinePrivacy #E2EE
Please share. The more people understand the proposal, the better informed the public discussion will be.
EU Chat Control Is Back – And This Time It Might Actually Pass (Update: It Has Passed)
EU Chat Control is back in its final legislative round on June 29, 2026. This complete guide covers what Chat Control proposes, the full timeline from 2021, why it keeps returning, and what happens if it passes [SENSITIVE CONTENT]
Latest Update: Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, chat control 1.0 has passed with a few amendments.
Update: Parliament’s second vote is done. These two changes got approved:
Amendment 30 (Renew Europe)
Purpose: Protect end-to-end encrypted communications.
What it proposes:
Adds a new Article 1(2a) stating that the regulation does not apply to interpersonal communications protected by end-to-end encryption (E2EE), whether encryption is already in place or will be applied.
The stated justification is simply: “Protection of end-to-end encrypted communications.”
In short: This amendment creates a blanket exemption for E2EE communications from the scope of the regulation.
Amendment 26 (PfE Group)
Purpose: Narrow the scope of scanning and protect encrypted communications.
What it proposes:
Removes the requirement to detect child solicitation (grooming), limiting processing to the detection of known CSAM only.
Removes permission to process related traffic data, restricting processing to only the content data strictly necessary.
Adds a new condition stating the regulation must not apply to interpersonal communications protected by end-to-end encryption, whether encryption is already in use or will be applied.
In short: This amendment significantly limits what providers can scan and explicitly exempts end-to-end encrypted communications from the regulation.
Key difference
Amendment 30 is focused solely on excluding E2EE communications from the regulation.
Amendment 26 goes further by reducing the scope of scanning (known CSAM only, no grooming detection, no related traffic data) and also excluding E2EE communications.
Update: The expedited procedure has been approved, and a subsequent vote on Chat Control 1.0 is scheduled for this Thursday.
The vote tallies were as follows:
For: 331
Against: 304
Abstentions: 11
Update: The vote for allowing the new vote for Chat Control 1.0 will be on Tuesday at noon
Update: The European Commission is expected to announce plans in September to ban children from using social media across the EU.
Update: Next week, when many MPs are already on vacation, Chat Control 1.0 mass scans are supposed to be secretly passed again via a third vote!
Update: There are some reports that after carrying long discussions about this, they have reached an initial decision with some compromises. Final decision expected to be made public soon after more discussions. Also, The debate would now be shifting toward mandatory age verification (ID or facial scan) on messaging apps. As of now, no concrete final decision have been reached. The fight continues
The EU is, as of right now, in the final hours before a vote that could permanently change the way private digital communication works in Europe. Monday, June 29, is the fifth and supposedly final round of trilogue negotiations on Chat Control 2.0 – the permanent regulation that would, in one form or another, give authorities the ability to monitor the private messages of 450 million EU citizens.
And if that weren’t enough: this Friday (June 27), a separate backroom deal is reportedly underway to revive Chat Control 1.0 – the expired voluntary scanning regime through the backdoor.
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Subscribe to the Newsletter →Two simultaneous attacks on the same target. If either succeeds, the version of the internet Europeans have used for the past two decades – one where a private message is actually private could be gone by July.
This guide covers everything: what Chat Control is, what it proposes, the full legislative history, why it keeps dying and coming back, what’s at stake in the final trilogue, and what you can do. Start from the top or jump to the section you need.
What Is Chat Control?
What Is Chat Control?
“Chat Control” is the public nickname for the EU’s proposed Child Sexual Abuse Regulation – CSAR for short, sometimes called CSA Regulation 2022/0155. It was formally proposed by European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson on 11 May 2022. The stated goal is child protection: detect and report child sexual abuse material (CSAM) circulating across digital platforms.
Why is Chat Control so concerning?
Nobody argues with the goal. The fight is entirely about the method.
The Commission’s approach focuses on regulating digital services such as messaging apps, email providers, cloud storage by placing a legal duty on them to use technology to scan users’ communications in order to detect and report illegal activity. That means AI systems reading your messages before they reach the person you sent them to. All of them. Not because anyone suspects you of anything.
Civil society organisations argue the proposal would effectively mandate mass scanning of all private digital communications, undermining end-to-end encryption and violating fundamental rights to privacy and data protection.
The argument is simple: to catch the small fraction of criminals distributing abuse material, you have to build infrastructure that watches everyone.
Chat Control 1.0 vs Chat Control 2.0
It helps to understand that there are technically two separate legislative tracks running at the same time.
EU mass surveillance legislation
Chat Control: two tracks
Two separate legislative tracks running simultaneously — one expired, one heading into its fifth trilogue.
Track 1
Chat Control 1.0 Expired
Voluntary scanning of unencrypted messages only. Temporary derogation to ePrivacy Directive.
Track 2
Chat Control 2.0 CSAR — active
Permanent regulation. Mandatory scanning. Designed to bypass end-to-end encryption.
Timeline — Track 1
2021
Temporary derogation passed
Gmail, Messenger, Skype, Xbox and others voluntarily scan unencrypted messages for CSAM. E2EE content untouched.
2024
Extended by two years
EU adopts a second extension of the voluntary regime, pushing expiry to April 3, 2026.
March 2026
Parliament rejects third extension
European Parliament votes against a further extension. Legal basis for Chat Control 1.0 ends.
April 3, 2026
Chat Control 1.0 legally expires
The derogation lapses. Scanning without a legal basis is no longer authorised.
⚠ Companies continue scanning anyway
Despite the legal expiry, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Snap have announced they will continue scanning private messages — with no legal basis and no consequences while CSAR negotiations continue.
Google Meta Microsoft Snap
Track 2 — CSAR (Chat Control 2.0)
Child Sexual Abuse Regulation
The permanent replacement — currently being negotiated Negotiating
Scope
All service providers — mandatory, not voluntary
Encryption
Designed to bypass end-to-end encryption
⚖
5th trilogue — June 29, 2026
Four rounds of negotiations have already concluded. The fifth session — this Monday — is where the permanent regulation is being decided.
Key distinction
1.0 — voluntary, expired Platforms could opt in. Only unencrypted messages. Legal basis gone since April 2026.
2.0 — mandatory, pending No opt-out. Targets encrypted messages. Permanent if adopted.
thecybersecguru.com
Chat Control 1.0 is the older, expired system. In 2021, the EU passed a temporary derogation to the ePrivacy Directive called Chat Control 1.0 by critics which allowed email and communication providers to search messages for CSAM. It was not mandatory and did not affect end-to-end encrypted messages.
This derogation let platforms like Gmail, Facebook Messenger, Skype, and Xbox voluntarily scan unencrypted messages. In 2024, the EU adopted an extension of the voluntary Chat Control 1.0 regulation by two years, until April 3, 2026. In March 2026, the European Parliament rejected a second extension.
So Chat Control 1.0 legally expired on April 3, 2026. However, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Snap announced they will continue indiscriminate and warrantless scanning of private messages. Companies can break the law without consequences while the permanent regulation is being negotiated. That alone should concern you.
Chat Control 2.0 (the CSAR) is the permanent replacement. This is what the June 29 trilogue is about. The purpose of CSAR is to make it mandatory for service providers to scan messages for CSAM and to bypass end-to-end encryption.
This is the regulation that has gone through four rounds of trilogue negotiations and is heading into its fifth on Monday.
The Proposals: What’s on the Table
The Original 2022 Commission Proposal
The first version of Chat Control 2.0 was aggressive. The Commission’s original proposal contains a requirement that platforms, once served with a detection order, must scan people’s messages not just for known CSAM (images identified previously and hashed for detection) but also for unknown CSAM (new images of abuse).
A further component in the Commission’s proposal requires platforms to identify grooming activity in real time. This means apps would need to be able to parse the contents of users’ communications to understand when an adult user might be trying to lure a minor to engage in sexual activity.
That last part – text-based behavior analysis in real time means the AI isn’t just checking images against a database. It’s reading conversations and deciding whether they look suspicious.
How the Technology Works (Client-Side Scanning)
How Client-Side Scanning Works
With client-side scanning, end-to-end encryption remains in place, but it’s fundamentally circumvented: to detect CSAM, content must be checked on the sender’s device before encryption. Detection software would be embedded in the messaging app or operating system to scan chat content and automatically forward any material flagged as prohibited to law enforcement agencies.
It turns the user’s phone into a checkpoint, running pattern matching or machine learning classification locally and triggering reporting workflows when something looks suspicious.
The key thing to understand here: when privacy advocates say Chat Control “breaks encryption,” this is what they mean. End-to-end encryption is not cracked, it’s bypassed. The inspection happens before the message is encrypted. The lock is still on the door; they just check your bag before you put anything in it.
Cryptographers and security researchers warned that on-device detection “inherently undermines the protections” of end-to-end encryption without any guarantee that it would improve protection for children. The detection mechanism would become a high-value target for hackers and hostile nation states, which could reconfigure it to target other types of data, such as people’s financial or political interests.
The “Voluntary” Shift in the Council’s Position
After years of rejections, the Council text softened – at least on paper. The latest Council position drops the requirement for compulsory automated scanning of encrypted or unencrypted communications.
The Council agreed on its position, which removed the requirement that forces providers to scan messages on their services. It also comes with strong language to protect encryption.
So why are privacy advocates still furious? Because “voluntary” doesn’t mean what it sounds like.
Critics have argued that this amounts to mandatory scanning with extra steps. MEP Patrick Breyer has characterized the Council position as “cementing ‘voluntary’ mass scanning” and “legitimizing the warrantless, error-prone mass surveillance of millions of Europeans.”
The mechanism works through Article 4 risk mitigation requirements. Providers classified as “high-risk” for CSAM must implement unspecified “risk mitigation measures.” Scanning is one option on the list. The law doesn’t mandate scanning directly. Instead, it mandates risk mitigation, then includes scanning as the obvious compliance path, then makes non-compliant services legally liable. Patrick Breyer argues the framework could leave privacy-preserving services with little practical choice: “The proposal includes overly heavy and complex risk mitigation measures that punish privacy-respecting services, effectively forcing them to implement surveillance tools to avoid liability.”
It’s opt-in surveillance with enough carrots and sticks attached that it functions like opt-out surveillance.
Mandatory Age Verification
Separate from the scanning debate and arguably as damaging, is the age verification requirement.
To identify minors, every citizen would have to prove their age with an ID or a face scan for an email or messenger account. This threatens whistleblowers, journalists, and people seeking help.
The current text of Chat Control 2.0 has dropped mandatory client-side scanning of end-to-end encrypted messages, but retains a requirement that users verify their age before accessing encrypted messaging services. Anonymous encrypted communication, under that framework, ends. The encryption “survives,” but the anonymity doesn’t.
Think about what this means for a moment. Dissidents in EU member states. Domestic abuse survivors. Journalists with sources. LGBTQ+ teenagers in unsupportive households. Anonymous whistleblowers. Every one of them currently relies on the ability to communicate privately and without identifying themselves. Journalists, whistle-blowers, LGBTQ+ youth, and political dissidents may face new barriers to secure communication if anonymous accounts are no longer possible.
And there’s a basic technical problem: over 400 scientists have warned that “age assessment cannot be performed in a privacy-preserving way with current technology due to reliance on biometric, behavioural or contextual information. In fact, it incentivises children’s data collection and exploitation.”
You cannot verify age without collecting invasive data about everyone who tries to communicate.
Cloud Storage and Other Provisions
The proposal doesn’t stop at messaging. Other aspects of the proposal include ineffective network blocking, screening of personal cloud storage including private photos, mandatory age verification resulting in the end of anonymous communication, app store censorship, and excluding minors from the digital world.
The planned age control would exclude users under 17 from everyday apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and online games.
That’s not child protection. That’s children’s digital exclusion.
There’s also a detail that went largely unnoticed: the proposal exempted government and military communications from scanning. States do not want Chat Control for their own communications, but the chats of others should be monitored. The people who designed this system exempted themselves from it.
Why the Technical Experts Say It Won’t Even Work
Let’s set aside the legality and ethics for a moment and just look at whether mass scanning actually catches abusers.
The math is the problem. Even a 99.5% accuracy rate would lead to billions of incorrect identifications daily, overwhelming investigators and wrongly flagging innocent users, according to Callum Voge of the Internet Society.
When you scan billions of messages a day, you’re looking for an extremely rare event. Basic probability means the system will generate far more false positives than true detections. When the actual prevalence of the phenomenon is low, even a 1% false positive rate generates a deluge of incorrect reports that swamp investigators and ruin innocent lives.
High false-positive rates in practice are not theoretical: high false-positive rates up to 80% have been documented in countries like Switzerland.
And the abusers most likely to be caught? The least sophisticated ones, who were already detectable through targeted investigations. Europol’s work on child sexual exploitation focuses on networks, identifiers, and investigative partnerships, not on redesigning every citizen’s device into a sensor. Anyone serious about hiding will just use a different service – one outside EU jurisdiction the moment scanning becomes mandatory.
The Commission claims the scanning would be targeted, but under the proposal, private communications of innocent people would be scanned with unreliable AI filters just in case they’re spreading CSAM.
The UN agrees. Child protection organisations, including the UN’s own Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, have warned that mass surveillance fails to prevent abuse and actually makes children less safe by weakening security for everyone and diverting resources from targeted investigations that actually work.
The Full Timeline
This legislation has been fighting to exist since 2021. Here’s the full chronological record.
Legislative record
Chat Control: the full timeline
Every significant event from the 2021 temporary derogation to the fifth and final scheduled trilogue on June 29, 2026.
● Chat Control 1.0 ● Chat Control 2.0 (CSAR) ● Critical moment ● Today / upcoming
2021
July 2021
Temporary derogation passes — Chat Control 1.0 begins
EU passes a temporary derogation to the ePrivacy Directive, allowing platforms to voluntarily scan for CSAM. Google, Meta, and Microsoft opt in immediately. Chat Control 1.0
2022
May 11, 2022
CSAR formally proposed — Chat Control 2.0 begins
The European Commission proposes the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) — a permanent, mandatory scanning framework to replace the temporary derogation. Chat Control 2.0
September 2022
Public consultation closes: 80%+ oppose E2EE scanning
Over 80% of respondents to the public consultation oppose applying scanning to end-to-end encrypted communications. Chat Control 2.0
2023
November 2023
LIBE committee votes to protect encryption
The Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) votes to remove indiscriminate scanning — allowing only targeted surveillance of specific individuals with reasonable suspicion and judicial authorisation. Parliament’s position explicitly protects encryption. Chat Control 2.0
2024
2024
Multiple Council attempts blocked
Belgium and Spain push different compromise texts — including a version rebranding mandatory scanning as “upload moderation,” which Signal president Meredith Whittaker called “rhetorical games.” Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Austria repeatedly block qualified majorities in the Council. Chat Control 2.0
2025
July 2025
Denmark takes presidency, makes CSAR a top priority
Denmark assumes the Council Presidency and immediately signals CSAR is a legislative priority for their term. Chat Control 2.0
September 9, 2025
500+ cryptographers warn measures are technically unfeasible
Over 500 cryptographers and security researchers sign an open letter warning the scanning measures are technically unfeasible and would “completely undermine” privacy and security for all European citizens — creating vulnerabilities exploitable by hackers or hostile states. Critical moment
October 8, 2025
Council vote pulled at last minute — Germany blocks majority
A scheduled Council vote is withdrawn after Germany declares opposition. Without Germany, a qualified majority is unreachable. Chat Control 2.0
October 2025
Denmark backs down — shifts to “voluntary” scanning with backdoor mandate
Denmark drops mandatory scanning but attaches risk mitigation requirements to voluntary scanning — what critics call a backdoor mandate in different packaging. Chat Control 2.0
November 26, 2025
Council adopts general approach — trilogue can begin
The Council adopts the revised Danish text as its general approach at a COREPER II meeting — without debate. With both institutions now holding formal positions, trilogue negotiations with Parliament officially begin. Chat Control 2.0
December 9, 2025
Trilogue 1 — first formal negotiation
First trilogue negotiation on Chat Control 2.0 takes place between Parliament, Council, and Commission. Trilogue 1 of 5
December 19, 2025
Commission proposes extending Chat Control 1.0 to April 2028
The European Commission proposes a further two-year extension of the expired voluntary scanning regime — now targeting April 2028. Chat Control 1.0
2026
February 5, 2026
Parliament rapporteur publishes extension draft mandate
Parliament’s rapporteur publishes a draft mandate for extending Chat Control 1.0, setting out Parliament’s negotiating position. Chat Control 1.0
February 26, 2026
Trilogue 2
Second trilogue negotiation on Chat Control 2.0. Trilogue 2 of 5
March 11, 2026
Parliament passes targeted extension (458–103) — Council rejects it
Parliament votes to extend Chat Control 1.0 only to 2027, with mandatory judicial authorisation and no mass scanning. MEPs vote 458–103 in favour. The Council rejects it — they want mass scanning without judicial oversight. Critical moment
March 26, 2026
Parliament kills Chat Control 1.0 extension — passes by a single vote
Parliament votes to reject any further extension of Chat Control 1.0. The critical Amendment 34 — rejecting automated assessment of unknown photos and texts — passes by a single vote. The extension is dead. Critical moment
April 3, 2026
Chat Control 1.0 legally expires
The derogation lapses. Platforms no longer have a legal basis for mass message scanning in the EU. Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Snap continue scanning anyway — without consequences while CSAR is negotiated. Chat Control 1.0 — expired
April 16, 2026
Trilogue 3
Third trilogue negotiation on Chat Control 2.0. Trilogue 3 of 5
May 11, 2026
Trilogue 4
Fourth trilogue negotiation on Chat Control 2.0. Trilogue 4 of 5
Today — June 27, 2026
Backroom deal reportedly underway to revive Chat Control 1.0
Reports emerge of a deal to revive the expired Chat Control 1.0 voluntary scanning regime through a separate legislative route — bypassing the Parliament vote that killed it. Today
Monday — June 29, 2026
Trilogue 5 — final scheduled negotiation
Cyprus, holding the Council Presidency, has scheduled the fifth and final trilogue on Chat Control 2.0. This is the decisive session. Trilogue 5 of 5 — final
July 2026 (expected)
Formal adoption — binding across all 27 member states
If a deal is reached Monday, formal adoption by Parliament and Council is expected in July. The law would take binding effect across all 27 member states immediately — no national implementation required. Pending outcome
5
Trilogue rounds
5 yrs
In legislation
1 vote
Margin on Amdt. 34
27
States affected
thecybersecguru.com
July 2021 – The EU passes a temporary derogation to the ePrivacy Directive, allowing platforms to voluntarily scan for CSAM. This becomes known as Chat Control 1.0. Google, Meta, and Microsoft opt in immediately.
May 11, 2022 – The European Commission formally proposes the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) – Chat Control 2.0 – to create a permanent, mandatory scanning framework.
September 2022 – Public consultation closes. Over 80% of respondents oppose applying scanning to end-to-end encrypted communications.
November 2023 – The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) votes to remove indiscriminate chat control and allow only targeted surveillance of specific individuals and groups where there is reasonable suspicion, and only with judicial authorisation. Parliament’s position also protects encryption.
2024 – Multiple Council Presidency attempts to pass the proposal fail. Belgium and Spain try different compromise texts, including a version that called mandatory scanning “upload moderation,” which Signal president Meredith Whittaker described as “rhetorical games.” Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Austria repeatedly block qualified majorities.
July 2025 – Denmark takes over the Council Presidency and makes CSAR a top priority.
September 9, 2025 – Over 500 cryptographers and security researchers sign an open letter warning the measures are technically unfeasible and would “completely undermine” the privacy and security of all European citizens by creating vulnerabilities that hackers or hostile nations could exploit.
October 8, 2025 – A scheduled Council vote is pulled at the last minute after Germany declares opposition. Without Germany, there’s no qualified majority.
October 2025 – Denmark backs down from mandatory scanning. The proposal shifts toward “voluntary” scanning with risk mitigation requirements attached – the version critics call a backdoor mandate.
November 26, 2025 – The Council adopts its general approach – the revised Danish text – without debate at a COREPER II meeting. With the Council’s position finally agreed, trilogue negotiations with Parliament can officially begin.
December 9, 2025 – First trilogue negotiation on Chat Control 2.0.
December 19, 2025 – The European Commission proposes extending Chat Control 1.0 by another two years, to April 2028.
February 5, 2026 – Parliament’s rapporteur publishes a draft mandate for extending Chat Control 1.0.
February 26, 2026 – Second trilogue negotiation on Chat Control 2.0.
March 11, 2026– The Parliament passes a compromise position on extending Chat Control 1.0: extend it to 2027, but require judicial authorisation and limit scanning to targeted cases – no mass scanning of unencrypted messages. MEPs vote 458-103 in favour. The Council rejects it – they want mass scanning without judicial oversight.
March 26, 2026 – The European Parliament votes to reject any further extensions of Chat Control 1.0. The critical amendment 34, rejecting automated assessment of unknown photos and texts, passes by a single vote. Chat Control 1.0’s extension is dead.
April 3, 2026 – Chat Control 1.0 legally expires. Platforms operating in the EU no longer have a legal basis for mass message scanning. But the permanent replacement (CSAR, Chat Control 2.0) is very much alive.
April 16, 2026 – Third trilogue negotiation on Chat Control 2.0.
May 11, 2026 – Fourth trilogue negotiation on Chat Control 2.0.
June 27, 2026 (today) – A backroom deal is reportedly underway to revive Chat Control 1.0 – the expired voluntary scanning regime – through a separate legislative route.
June 29, 2026 (Monday) -The government of Cyprus, currently holding the Presidency of the Council, has planned the very final negotiations to happen on June 29, 2026. This is the fifth and final scheduled trilogue on Chat Control 2.0.
July 2026 (expected) – If a deal is reached Monday, formal adoption by Parliament and Council is expected in July. The law would take binding effect across all 27 member states without any national implementation required.
The Double-Attack Happening Right Now
Here’s the part that requires attention right now – this weekend.
We face a double-attack on private communication: a backroom deal to revive Chat Control 1.0 this Friday, and on Monday June 29, the final trilogue for permanent mass scanning.
Track one is the Chat Control 2.0 trilogue on Monday – the permanent regulation that’s been in negotiation since December 2025. Four rounds in, they haven’t found a final text. Discussions are reportedly still slow. With discussions already reportedly facing delays, a summer deal seems increasingly at risk.
But track two is the one that caught privacy advocates off guard. Someone is trying to bring Chat Control 1.0 back through a separate legislative manoeuvre – before the Parliament gets another chance to vote on it. The previous plenary vote on March 26 killed the extension by a single vote. A backdoor revival would circumvent that democratic decision entirely.
The Council has explicitly signalled it wants mass scanning without judicial gatekeeping. The Commission has supported the Council’s position throughout. That leaves Parliament as the only institution with any interest in defending privacy and the pressure to reach a deal before the Cypriot Presidency ends is enormous.
The Council’s own Legal Service put it bluntly: in an opinion on June 10, 2026, it stated that the latest “own-initiative” scanning proposal still constitutes generalised scanning of interpersonal communication, and that accessing private communications without reasonable suspicion and prior judicial authorisation is incompatible with Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Their own lawyers told them it won’t survive a court challenge. They’re proceeding anyway.
Why It Keeps Coming Back
If Chat Control has failed so many times, why does it keep returning?
Part of it is institutional persistence. The Commission has invested enormous political capital in this proposal since 2022. The rotating Council Presidencies of Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Denmark, Cyprus each have treated CSAR as a priority file. There’s a bureaucratic logic to closing it.
Part of it is lobbying. A transnational investigation by European media outlets revealed the close involvement of foreign technology and law enforcement lobbyists in the preparation of the original proposal. Commissioner Johansson was also criticised for using micro-targeting techniques to promote its controversial draft proposal, which violated the EU’s data protection and privacy rules.
And part of it is the framing problem. “Child protection” is the stated justification. Anyone who opposes the method gets painted as opposing the goal. That’s a difficult political position, which is why privacy advocates have been careful to frame their opposition around the technical ineffectiveness of the proposal, not just its rights implications.
The honest version of the disagreement is this: supporters believe some capability to detect CSAM online is worth accepting reduced privacy for everyone. Opponents believe mass surveillance of the innocent is categorically wrong, and that targeted investigations with judicial oversight would actually catch more criminals without building a surveillance apparatus that, once constructed, will be used for other purposes.
History has consistently supported the second position. Surveillance infrastructure has never stayed limited to its original stated purpose.
What’s at Stake for Encryption
Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, has said plainly that Signal would leave Europe before implementing client-side scanning. She made clear this isn’t out of principle alone. Signal can’t keep its security promises if it’s forced to install surveillance mechanisms on users’ devices. Will Cathcart of WhatsApp echoed this, describing it as “the end of end-to-end encryption as we know it.”
If Chat Control becomes law, American technology companies will face an impossible choice. US companies would face conflicting legal obligations they cannot simultaneously satisfy. US users would find their communications subject to systematic European surveillance.
And beyond the companies: once client-side scanning infrastructure exists anywhere, it’s a target. When Apple proposed a related mechanism for photo scanning, the backlash was immediate because security engineers saw the same pattern: once a scanning pipeline exists, it becomes an attractive target for attackers and a tempting lever for governments.
Privacy-rights groups warn that even without explicit mass scanning, the framework could normalize surveillance-by-default if risk-mitigation rules are interpreted broadly.
The long-term concern is precedent. The EU setting this framework gives authoritarian governments cover to do the same and far more aggressively. China, Russia, and others have already cited European data regulation as partial justification for their own internet control regimes. A working CSAM scanning infrastructure in Europe becomes the template.
Where the Institutions Stand
The European Parliament has been the most consistent defender of privacy throughout this process. Their 2023 mandate explicitly rejected indiscriminate scanning, protected encryption, and required judicial warrants before any scanning could take place. The March 2026 vote showed they’ll hold that line – barely, by a single vote on the key amendment.
The EU Council (representing member state governments) wants broad scanning capability. The Council’s position still allows “voluntary” mass scanning, mandatory age verification, and AI analysis of unknown content. 23 of 27 member states currently support the proposal. Only the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland oppose.
The European Commission has backed the Council throughout. Four EU Commissioners signed a statement insisting the protection of children, not the protection of perpetrators, must remain the guiding principle. Framing opposition to Chat Control as protecting criminals is a rhetorical move, not an argument.
The Council’s Legal Service issued an opinion on June 10 stating the proposal violates Article 7 of the EU Charter. They said it plainly: without a court order based on reasonable suspicion, you cannot authorise access to private communications. Any deal that ignores this finding will be challenged in the CJEU and will likely lose
What You Can Do
What can you do?
If you’re an EU citizen or resident, what happens Monday is partly within your reach. MEPs are accessible, and the Parliament is the last real firewall here.
Contact your MEPs – The negotiators shaping the final Chat Control 2.0 text are called the Trilogue Shadows. You can find them by country at fightchatcontrol.eu. A short, direct email explaining that you oppose mass scanning and mandatory age verification, and want targeted, judicially authorised alternatives is extremely important to send before Monday.
Contact your country’s Permanent Representation – These are the diplomats representing your government in Brussels. They influence the Council’s negotiating position.
What to ask for:
- No generalised scanning of private communications, voluntary or otherwise
- No mandatory age verification for encrypted services
- Any interception of private messages to require a court order based on specific, reasonable suspicion
- Judicial authority, not private companies or administrative bodies to authorise access to private chats
The alternative that actually works: targeted investigations with proper legal authority, supported by more resources for specialised police units, international cooperation, and addressing illegal content at its source rather than trying to catch it in transit across encrypted channels.
The Bottom Line
Chat Control is not dead. It came close to dying. Chat Control 1.0 expired in April, and Parliament rejected its extension by one vote. That was a genuine win.
But the permanent regulation is now in its final negotiating session Monday. And today, Friday, a separate attempt is apparently underway to bring Chat Control 1.0 back through a procedural workaround, bypassing the Parliament vote that killed it.
The proposal as the Council wants it would give tech companies – including US companies with no particular democratic accountability to European citizens the ability to read your messages before you send them. It would require you to prove who you are before you’re allowed to use encrypted communication. And it would do all this while exempting government communications from the same scrutiny.
The technical experts say it won’t catch the sophisticated abusers it’s supposedly targeting. The EU’s own Legal Service says it violates the EU Charter. The European Parliament has repeatedly rejected its core mechanisms. None of this has stopped the push.
The fight isn’t over. After years of political deadlock, 2026 is the year we will learn how far the EU is willing to go. Monday is when we find out
Track the negotiations live at fightchatcontrol.eu. Follow Patrick Breyer’s comprehensive tracker at patrick-breyer.de for document-level updates. EDRi’s Stop Scanning Me campaign at edri.org has the most detailed legal analysis.
FAQs
What is EU Chat Control?
“Chat Control” is the informal name for the EU’s proposed Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR), which would require digital communication platforms to scan users’ private messages and files for child sexual abuse material. The stated goal is child protection, but critics argue the method amounts to mass surveillance of all 450 million EU citizens.
What is the difference between Chat Control 1.0 and 2.0?
Chat Control 1.0 was a temporary derogation to the EU’s ePrivacy Directive, active from 2021 to April 3, 2026, which allowed platforms like Gmail and Facebook Messenger to voluntarily scan unencrypted messages. Chat Control 2.0 (the CSAR) is the proposed permanent regulation that would make scanning mandatory and extend it to cover encrypted communications as well.
Does Chat Control break end-to-end encryption?
Not directly but instead it proposes client-side scanning, which checks messages on the sender’s device before they’re encrypted. This effectively bypasses encryption without technically cracking it. Security researchers and over 500 cryptographers have warned this approach “inherently undermines” the protections encryption provides and creates new vulnerabilities that hackers and hostile governments could exploit.
Which EU countries oppose Chat Control?
As of June 2026, the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland formally oppose the proposal. 23 other member states support it, meaning there is currently a qualified majority in the Council behind the regulation.
Why did Chat Control 1.0 expire in April 2026?
The European Parliament voted 311-228 on March 26, 2026 to reject a proposed extension of Chat Control 1.0. The key amendment – rejecting automated assessment of unknown photos and texts – passed by a single vote. Without parliamentary approval of an extension, the derogation expired as scheduled on April 3, 2026.
What is trilogue in EU law?
Trilogue is the informal three-way negotiation process between the European Parliament, the Council of the EU (representing member state governments), and the European Commission. It’s used to reconcile different positions between the institutions and reach a final agreed text before formal adoption of EU legislation.
What is mandatory age verification in Chat Control?
The current Council position on Chat Control 2.0 requires providers of encrypted communication services to verify the age of users. In practice, this means every EU citizen would need to submit an ID, biometric data, or equivalent proof before accessing encrypted email or messaging apps. Privacy advocates argue this ends anonymous digital communication in Europe entirely and creates major risks for journalists, whistleblowers, and vulnerable people.
Will Signal leave Europe if Chat Control passes?
Signal has stated publicly it will leave Europe before implementing client-side scanning. WhatsApp’s parent company Meta has also warned it cannot maintain meaningful encryption if forced to insert scanning infrastructure. Both apps have a policy of not compromising their encryption model regardless of legislative pressure.
What happens if Chat Control passes despite legal concerns?
The Council’s own Legal Service warned in June 2026 that the current proposal violates Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (right to privacy) and would likely be struck down by the EU Court of Justice. If passed, legal challenges from civil society organisations and potentially member state courts would likely follow within months of adoption.
What can I do to oppose Chat Control?
EU citizens and residents can contact their MEPs and their country’s Permanent Representation to the EU before the June 29 trilogue. The campaign site fightchatcontrol.eu provides contact tools and a pre-written message that can be customised. Requests should specifically ask for: no generalised scanning, no mandatory age verification, and judicial authorisation requirements for any access to private communications.
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EU Chat Control Is Back
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What Is Chat Control?
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Why is Chat Control so concerning?
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How Client-Side Scanning Works
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We Can Still Stop California’s 3D Printer Surveillance Scheme
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/we-can-still-stop-californias-3d-printer-surveillance-scheme
#tech #technology #news #technews #security #privacy #3dprinting #Surveillance
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#Military secrets are fiercely guarded for obvious reasons. But also obviously in a #war your enemy gets a lot of exposure to the operating parameters, capabilities, and weaknesses of your #technology. And gets plenty of physical samples
So #Ukraine just open sourced all of #Russia's military secrets 😆
Well not strictly, it's only for allies
And a knock-on effect is it devalues Russian arms sales because potential buyers know it's all exposed
It's called #TrophyLab
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Tech writer @brianmerchant is starting a podcast! Here's a link to the first episode of Blood In the Machine: The Show, in which he interviews @molly0xfff about AI and crypto money in politics, and her new project, Tech Influence Watch.
RIP Om Malik. The famed tech investor and founder of Gigaom, has died at 59.
@IncMagazine reports: "After starting his career in journalism, the tech insider built his own media company before pivoting to venture capital."
Registration may be required: https://flip.it/fvSO5-
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As so often what once happened in a Philip K Dick book (in this case Minority Report) has now come to pass... here are Liberty's investigative journalist team on the worrying & expanding experience of predictive policing, and how it produces a large number of false positives when trying to predict criminality.
Once that has been compounded through police prejudice & bad culture, this looks not just unwelcome but positively dangerous!
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Meta paused an employee-monitoring program that collected keystrokes and mouse activity for AI training after some data was found broadly accessible internally 🖥️🔒
The program drew backlash over consent, privacy, and data handling, with nearly 2,000 employees signing a petition against it ⚖️📊
🔗 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq615g3z36po
#TechNews #Meta #Privacy #AI #Workplace #Surveillance #EmployeeRights #DataProtection #Security #ArtificialIntelligence #BigTech #Cybersecurity #DigitalRights #Technology #OpenWeb
Anthropic says some Claude users may need to submit government IDs and selfies to verify age or identity when appealing flagged accounts 🪪🔐
The policy takes effect July 8 and uses Persona for verification, raising privacy concerns around biometric data and document retention 🌐⚖️
🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/22/anthropic-says-claude-may-want-to-see-your-id/
#TechNews #Anthropic #Claude #Privacy #Identity #AgeVerification #Biometrics #Security #AI #Cybersecurity #DataProtection #Identity #TechPolicy #MachineLearning #CloudComputing #Technology
Salaries may be stagnant in this economy, but prices aren’t. Apple is raising the prices on its Mac and iPad lineups. Last week, CEO Tim Cook told The Wall Street Journal that price hikes were unavoidable due to more expensive memory and storage components. So how much will a MacBook Pro cost? Will iPhones cost more? Read more from @Techcrunch:
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Kent Pitman #tech Historic Document Release, screwlisp's new CLIM #Lisp #zine, #mathematics and #climate w/ Ramin Honary
https://github.com/netsettler/netsettlement
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Pitman )
Linear thinking climatecrisis article: https://netsettlement.blogspot.com/2019/09/degrees-of-climate-catastrophe.html
Screwlisp's new lisp zine (SUBMIT YOUR THING THIS WEEK / EVERY WEEK SEE: )
https://itch.io/jam/zine
https://lispy-gopher-show.itch.io/zine
Ramin Honary:
http://tilde.town/~ramin_hal9001/
Subscribe via RSS
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The voyages of Ancient Pacific mariners echo in modern space exploration
There are many ways to traverse vast cosmic distances—including exploiting natural forces like slopes, winds, currents, or gravity as fuel-efficient means of acceleration.
by Geoff Manaugh
Books about Outer space -- Exploration at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/5990
#science #technology #history #books
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The Hubble Ultra Deep Field, is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, composited from Hubble Space Telescope data accumulated over a period from September 3, 2003 through January 16, 2004. The patch of sky in which the galaxies reside was chosen because it had a low density of bright stars in the near-field.
It shows thousands of galaxies of varying shapes, sizes, and colors scattered across a tiny patch of sky, captured by combining long exposures from the Hubble Space Telescope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_exploration#/media/File:Hubble_ultra_deep_field_high_rez_edit1.jpg
Canada Is Forging Ahead with Its Dangerous Surveillance Bill
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/canada-forging-ahead-its-dangerous-surveillance-bill
An appreciation: Roland Jackson’s Scientific Advice to the Nineteenth-Century British State
by William Thomas
https://www.aip.org/history/jackson-scientific-advice
Books about Science at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/51
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Portrait of Michael Faraday by Thomas Phillips, 1842.
Faraday is shown in dark formal attire with his hands clasped, beside what appears to be an electrical apparatus on the table.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday#/media/File:Portait_of_Michael_Faraday2.png
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What could go wrong with forcing a data hungry #AI company like #Anthropic to force it's users to do ID #verification?
https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/22/anthropic-says-claude-may-want-to-see-your-id
Meanwhile asylum-seekers are a great source for biometric data for the #UK government: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/the-uk-will-scan-asylum-seekers-faces-for-age-checks-despite-knowing-the-tech-is-flawed
As the #West is trying to imitate totalitarian states as of late, they might be better advised to imitate their #exports instead.
#Privacy #Asylum #UnitedKingdom #Britain #GreatBritain #Artificialintelligence #Tech #Technology #News #US #USA
Valve's Steam Machine is tiny, easy to use, and beautifully designed. It's also $1,049 for the base model with no controller. Chris Person writes for @Aftermath about how this brilliant computer may be scuppered by AI-related price hikes.
Cybercrime group Icarus has taken credit for a breach at Klue, a market intelligence provider, that allowed reams of data to be stolen from the company’s customers, which include some of the biggest corporations in cybersecurity. Read more from @Techcrunch:
Apple’s iOS 27 adds smarter Wallet features, including AI-powered bill splitting, loyalty card support, and expanded hotel key capabilities 📱
iOS 27 also updates Maps, Find My, Music, Podcasts, and Shared Albums with new discovery, sharing, and accessibility features 🗺️
🔗 https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/20/every-new-ios-27-feature-thats-worth-knowing-about/
PS: More tech news like this, or should I focus on Privacy, Linux, and Open Source?
#TechNews #Apple #iPhone #iOS #iOS27 #Wallet #Maps #FindMy #AppleMusic #Music #Mobile #AI #Privacy #Apps #Technology
| Privacy, Linux & Open Source only: | 0 |
| A mix of both: | 1 |
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New post: Predictability Is Accessibility: Why I'm Moving from Raspberry Pi to openSUSE on WSL
https://lanie.work/technology/predictability-is-accessibility-wsl-opensuse/
#Accessibility #Disability #Linux #Workflow #Wsl #Opensuse #Raspberry-Pi #Cognitive-Load #Technology
Canada’s Bill C-22 is advancing toward a vote with provisions for metadata retention, expanded data sharing, and government-mandated encryption backdoors. 🔒
Signal, Apple, Google, and VPN providers oppose the bill, warning it could limit features or services and weaken private communications. ⚖️
🔗 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/canada-forging-ahead-its-dangerous-surveillance-bill
#TechNews #Canada #BillC22 #Encryption #Privacy #Surveillance #DigitalRights #CyberSecurity #OpenSource #DataProtection #Technology #InternetFreedom #InfoSec #TechPolicy
Kansas City Pushes Ahead With Facial Recognition on Buses
https://www.pcmag.com/news/kansas-city-pushes-ahead-with-facial-recognition-on-buses
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“Digital Colonialism”: U.S. Demands to Access Africans’ Data Raise Privacy, Sovereignty Concerns
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-state-department-africa-uganda-aid-medical-data-privacy
> The United States is requiring access to health data as part of lifesaving aid deals with African countries. The U.S. says the data will be aggregated and anonymized, but privacy experts fear the information could be misused or exploited.
boostedTexas government data breach allowed hackers to steal 3 million driver's licenses and passports
> A data breach involving government-issued ID documents affects over 3 million people in Texas.
Apple’s new Siri AI and Apple Intelligence announcements dominated the WWDC spotlight earlier this month, but let’s not forget about additional upgrades across the company’s everyday apps and services. @Techcrunch highlights some of the standouts:
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Why does every individual site need to work out whether I'm a bot or not?
Surely there must be a better way than having to wait 10 seconds for EVERY SINGLE SITE ON THE INTERNET to verify that I'm a human?
Just as we once taught ourselves to use passwords we would never remember, but a computer could guess in seconds, we now seem to be at a point where humans are being frustrated by every site wanting to make sure we're real.... but computers just work around it (or move to the next site)....
#Verification #Technology #Frustration #Robots #Bot #Internet
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Black screen with "Making sure you're not a bot!" in yellow and a big blue cog underneath
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Swirling green dots with text "Verifying..." on the left. The Cloudflare logo with privacy and help links on the right all on a white background
Digital frames have always been popular, but the devices often look clunky. That appears to be changing with Aura’s new ink frame that @Techcrunch says “doesn’t even look digital."
What makes something "web-based" in 2026? @ricmac writes about today's tech ecosystem, and if the web is still truly made of people.
New post: Choosing a VoIP Service When You're Desktop-First and Don't Like Phones
https://lanie.work/technology/voip-for-desktop-first-users/
#Accessibility #Disability #Technology #Workflow #Voip #Desktop-First #Iphone #Windows #Google-Voice
A Proton survey of 3,000 people in the UK, France, and Germany found 45% may avoid businesses using US tech for data storage over privacy concerns 🇪🇺
The survey also found 65% believe European businesses should prioritize local technology providers, highlighting interest in digital sovereignty 🔐
🔗 https://proton.me/business/blog/european-digital-independence-survey-2026
#TechNews #Proton #Europe #DigitalSovereignty #Privacy #DataProtection #US #Cybersecurity #Business #OpenSource #Security #Technology #USA #Infrastructure #EU
The UK plans to ban under-16s from major social media platforms by spring 2027, with age checks that could require more biometric and identity data. 🔒
Australia’s similar ban has seen many teens bypass restrictions, raising questions about privacy and the effectiveness of age-based enforcement. ⚖️
🔗 https://proton.me/blog/uk-social-media-ban-privacy
#TechNews #UK #SocialMedia #Privacy #AgeVerification #OnlineSafety #Proton #DataProtection #Surveillance #DigitalRights #Security #Policy #Technology #Internet #Freedom
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Good news for #ArcaneChat / #DeltaChat users:
there is a new small (hopefully growing in the near future) list of public channels for you to join and get more content inside the app!
there is already several channels about different topics, from #food / #recipes, #news, #cybersecurity, #technology, #science, #politics, even gossips!
https://arcanechat.me/channels
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We have the mind of Christ, but use the voice of a machine?
By Elizabeth Prata
I heard a really interesting thought on a Facebook short, of all places. It was a clip from an NPR interview with Dave Eggers, author, publisher, and Pulitzer finalist. The show was Wild Cards hosted by Rachel Martin. In it, Eggers said,
“This is the first time in history when a whole generation is being told or tempted to have a machine write for them to express themselves. But I say, you are one of one, unprecedented in in the history human evolution. There’s only one of you. So to give your voice to a machine to say, ‘Speak for me. I’m going to be silent.’ I’m going to tell a machine to express myself or to tell my narrative is such a crime against yourself.”
“It’s so dystopian, so beyond anything I could do in a dystopian novel, and I did a lot, and I never saw this coming. That an entire generation, too many of them, acquiescing to the silencing of their own voice in favor of a bland, unthinking machine to voice their souls.” –end Eggers quote
I think many of us who write or create never saw this coming. And since it’s still so new, we are grappling with the impact, fallout, and future of AI. His words made a lot of sense to me. For us Christians, though, it goes very much deeper than that.
Artificial intelligence technology has evolved faster than most Christians have been able to think about it. ~Samuel James, at Desiring God
Taking ‘evolution’ out of the equation, because that is a made-up untrue theory, and we all do realize we are uniquely made, yes, there is only one of me. Faceless evolution didn’t create me, the God of the universe did! And not only are we made purposely, intentionally, and with love by God, we are created in His image.
This notion should be on our minds every moment. It is a dignity afforded no other creature. It gives us the opportunity to speak His truth of the Gospel, reflect His character. Our voices are for the incredible privilege of sharing His Gospel and truths of the Bible. Why put a cold, metallic, faceless machine in that place of dignity?
Can we consider the possibility that swapping our own unique image-of-God voice for a voice of Artificial Intelligence is not only a crime against ourselves, but that giving away our God-given talents and creative abilities for the ease of a push-button machine may possibly be thought of as a crime against God? Should we be swapping our transformed mind of Christ at the cost of Jesus’ blood and death, for a man-made device? Just because it’s easier?
Further resources
Phil Johnson on the flush of AI-produced fakery purporting to be John MacArthur videos– GTY’s stance on AI
How Is AI Shaping You? Three Principles for Wise Use
Council for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood: Of Machines and Men: AI and the Future of Humanity
#ai #artificialIntelligence #chatgpt #ImagoDei #philosophy #technology
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"Realizing your trove exists is terrifying. So is learning that it’s never been more vulnerable."
Bridget Read for New York/Intelligencer: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/your-digital-self-is-vulnerable.html
#Longreads #Privacy #Surveillance #Data #Technology #Internet
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Voice Age Verification
#HackerNews #Voice #Age #Verification #technology #AI #age #verification #security #privacy
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/116759622223137823
It's transparent plastic too, they know their audience!
oheso boostedCommodore’s new flip phone runs Sailfish OS with 99% Android app support (Signal, Maps, Uber etc) but blocks browsers, social media and work emails at the OS level. Features a T9 keys, no popup notification preview outer screen (only shows the time, date, battery, and network signal), audio headphone jack, user swappable battery, and retro C64 games to reclaim your focus. What do you think?
https://commodore.net/why-a-flip-phone/
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This is screenshot of promotional banner for the Commodore Callback flip phone, featuring a woman holding an open blue color flip phone. The text reads "Flip off Always-On" against a retro or futuristic background. source https://commodore.net/why-a-flip-phone/
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I discuss the problem of conflating transhumanism and evolution. I am not anti-transhuman or even anti-transsexual, but it's a category error to conflate them. Gotta stay in your lane.
https://philosophics.blog/2026/06/15/the-worlds-most-dangerous-idea/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social
#philosophy #blog #podcast #evolution #future #futurism #transhumanism #technology #language
Elon Musk used his platform to foment violence against immigrants in Northern Ireland, and Grok continues to generate CSAM, with no meaningful government action taken against X or its owner. @laurenshof asks what all this means for the open social web. "We might be building sovereignty infrastructure for governments that have decided they can live without it. What that means for the movement’s strategy, I really don’t know yet," he says.
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Hacktivist deletes white supremacist websites live onstage during hacker conference
‚A hacktivist remotely wiped three white supremacist websites live onstage during their talk at a hacker conference last week, with the sites yet to return online.
The pseudonymous hacker, who goes by Martha Root — dressed as Pink Ranger from the Power Rangers — deleted the servers of WhiteDate, WhiteChild, and WhiteDeal in real time at the end of a talk at the annual Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg, Germany….‘
Great 👏 @back2theRoot
#Ccc #39C3 #FightNazis #Hacking #Tech #Technology #Activism #HH #Hamburg #Germany
How Hackers Are Fighting Back Against ICE
‚ICE has been invading U.S. cities, targeting, surveilling, harassing, assaulting, detaining, and torturing people who are undocumented immigrants. They also have targeted people with work permits, asylum seekers, permanent residents (people holding “green cards”), naturalized citizens, and even citizens by birth. ICE has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on surveillance technology to spy on anyone—and potentially everyone—in the United States. It can be hard to imagine how to defend oneself against such an overwhelming force.
But a few enterprising hackers have started projects to do counter surveillance against ICE, and hopefully protect their communities through clever use of technology….‘
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/how-hackers-are-fighting-back-against-ice
The Zine from 404media About ICE Surveillance Is Here!
https://www.404media.co/icezine/
"You are holding a zine about the surveillance tools used by ICE, and what we have learned so far about how you can resist this technology.
This zine was reported and written by 404 Media, a journalist-owned investigative website and now, we suppose, a print publication. Our status as a small outfit of reporters who own the means of production (a website), means that we have the freedom to report on the topics we believe are the most important. For the last year, that has been Donald Trumpʼs mass deportation
campaign, and the technology powering it."
PDF Zine: https://www.404media.co/content/files/2026/02/404ICEZINE.pdf
Meta plans to add facial recognition to its smart glasses, report claims
“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” the document reads.
#Meta considered adding facial recognition #technology to the first version of its Ray-Ban smart glasses back in 2021, but dropped the plans over technical challenges and ethical concerns. The NYT reports that the company has revived its plans as the #Trump administration has grown closer to Big Tech, and following the unexpected success of its smart glasses."
‚Bank details, sex and naked people who seem unaware they are being recorded. Behind Meta’s new smart glasses lies a hidden workforce, uneasy about peering into the most intimate parts of other people’s lives…..‘
#Meta #Surveillance #Privacy #RayBan #SmartGlasses #Data #Technology
Die nahe Zukunft erscheint als Cyberpunk-Dystopie, nur ohne die coole Ästhetik sondern im Grauen Überwachungskapitalismus des Spätanthropozäns.
Überlegen wir uns lieber bessere Ideen wie wir leben wollen und wie wir diese Ideen umsetzen können, anstatt so etwas abzuwarten.
"Forscher:innen aus Italien ist es gelungen, Menschen in WLAN-Feldern biometrisch zu identifizieren – und das auch, wenn diese keine Gadgets wie ein Smartphone bei sich hatten. Das eigens entwickelte System Whofi hat eine Trefferquote von 95,5 Prozent.
Die feinen Veränderungen, die menschliche Körper verursachen, wenn sie WLAN-Signale durchqueren erwiesen sich laut den Forscher:innen als so individuell, dass damit einzelne Personen identifiziert werden konnten. Ein neuronales Netzwerk war dann in der Lage, ein personenspezifisches Profil aus den vorhandenen Daten zu erstellen – und die Signaturen mit vorhandenen Personenprofilen zu vergleichen.
[...]
Ob und wann Whofi in entsprechenden Sicherheits- oder Smarthome-Anwendungen zum Einsatz kommt, ist unklar. Klar ist derweil, dass künftig ein Verzicht auf Smartphone und Co nicht mehr vor der Erstellung eines Bewegungsprofils schützen dürfte."
Algorithmen auf Streife: Bremens Straßenbahnen werden zur KI-Überwachungszone
Mit #AI-Watch führt die #BSAG eine Echtzeit-Analyse von Fahrgästen ein. Was als Sicherheitsgewinn verkauft wird, markiert eine neue Stufe der #Videoüberwachung….
If you’ve ever experienced insomnia, you’ve probably tried lots of tricks to divert your racing brain, like listening to podcasts, ambient sounds, or light music. But if wearing earbuds isn’t helping your sleep ability, this thin, under-the-pillow speaker just might. Read more from @Techcrunch:
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People who have been around the tech world longer than I have: I've been reading for a while how some people seem to feel like the industry peaked somewhere in the 2000s and that it all went downhill from there.
There was one hype after the next and people just kept on jumping on the bandwagon because everyone was doing it. I've read this sentiment about containers, Kubernetes, the Cloud in general but there are probably more.
Do you feel that LLMs are more of the same of this or does this feel qualitatively different? If so, how? I'm trying to find some perspective in all this as I haven't been around the block for long enough to have it myself.
Boosts appreciated.
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Times are hard for journalists, and they're getting harder. Peter Thiel has teamed up with a legal strategist called Aron D’Souza to create Objection, a tech startup that uses AI to assess the legitimacy of articles. Gary Baum writes for @THR about his experience being the first reporter to be taken to an "AI tribunal," over an article he wrote about Purdue Pharma heir Michael Sackler.
SpaceX IPO values company at $1.7 trillion — but is it overvalued?
@USAToday reports: "A $1.77 trillion valuation would make SpaceX the eighth-largest company in the world by market cap, just above Saudi Aramco's $1.75 trillion and Meta Platforms' $1.5 trillion, but just below Broadcom's $1.8 trillion."
Massachusetts lawmakers advanced a privacy bill to Gov. Maura Healey requiring tech firms to delete sensitive personal data and stop selling location data. 🔒
The Senate-backed measure would limit data brokerage and targeted ads by firms including Meta and Google for 7 million residents. 🏛️
#TechNews #Massachusetts #DataPrivacy #Meta #Google #Location #Data #Privacy #DataProtection #Surveillance #Transparency #DigitalRights #Security #Technology #Policy #Law
![[?]](https://cdn.masto.host/graphicssocial/accounts/avatars/110/854/990/838/032/375/original/9cfb5f3bbd877b4f.png)
#tech #technology #BigTech #data #security #privacy #safety #InfoSec #IT #surveillance #computing #digital #online #internet #web #cloud #meme
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Meme, showing a continuous circle of data breach messages from corporations…
Ahaha you're not gonna believe this but we had a bit of a data breach.
Your data is probably for sale online now.
That means someone could easily impersonate you.
Going forward we're gonna need more of your data to make sure its you.
![[?]](https://cosmicnation.files.fedi.monster/accounts/avatars/109/331/692/889/533/350/original/90c23d9d6c526eed.jpg)
Which country do privacy advocates argue is putting the greatest pressure on end-to-end encryption among the following?
#Privacy #Encryption #CyberSecurity #DigitalRights #InfoSec #Technology #OnlinePrivacy #DataProtection
| China: | 0 |
| Russia: | 0 |
| North Korea: | 0 |
| UK: | 0 |
![[?]](https://media.infosec.exchange/infosec.exchange/accounts/avatars/113/247/756/313/164/165/original/70ea71b3dff2cf65.jpg)
React-like syntax with WebComponents.
After spending some time with Lit, I really appreciated its lightweight footprint but wasn't a fan of the class-based components. While Vue offers a great approach, I still prefer the intuitive nature of React's syntax for debugging and deterministic rendering. This led me to a challenge: could I build a UI framework using WebComponents that completely eliminates the need for transpilation?
I have written a breakdown of the concept, the architecture, and where I want to take it. I highly invite you to take a look, check out the code, and explore the live demo.
* How it works: https://positive-intentions.com/docs/projects/dim/dim-jsx-webcomponents
* Checkout the code: https://github.com/positive-intentions/dim
* Storybook demo: https://dim.positive-intentions.com
Please note, while the project is open-source, this is a personal exploration rather than an attempt to launch "yet another framework." It is not production-ready and is built for my own upcoming project migrations, but I am sharing it in hopes that the methodology is educational or interesting to the community.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this approach. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or want to discuss the implementation details.
#WebDev #WebDevelopment #Frontend #FrontendDev #JavaScript #JS #TypeScript #TS #HTML #HTML5 #CSS #SoftwareEngineering #SoftwareEngineer #Coding #Programming #WebDesign #OpenSourceProject #IndieDev #SideProject #Tech #Technology #DevCommunity #Fediverse #FediverseDevs #WebStandards #CustomElements #ShadowDOM #VanillaJS #NoTranspiler #NoBuild #BuildStep #EsModules #ComponentDriven #UIUX #DesignSystems #TechExperiment #LearningInPublic #Developer #ComputerScience #OSS #Github #React #WebComponents #Lit #Vue #ReactJS #JSX #Storybook #TechArticle #TechBlog #TechWriting #WebDevArticles
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Dim
![[?]](https://anonsys.net/photo/profile/scriptkiddie.webp?ts=1761409644)
#Mozilla, why are you playing along with Google's devious game and #betraying the #principles of #free #software?
source: omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/06/mozill…
Nonetheless, the appearance of ‘device attestation’ in Firefox’s mobile codebase has raised eyebrows in the #FOSS #community, including from #mobile projects based on the #Android Open Source Project (AOSP) codebase, like #LineageOS and #GrapheneOS, which omit Play services.Given that Firefox’s entire USP on Android is that it’s an open-source, privacy-respecting alternative for those avoiding #Google (and open-source, privacy-conscious users often run non-stock Android) it’s a move that, short of further explanation, rubs some the wrong way.
#news #software #security #ai #technology #cybersecurity #Firefox #browser #future #smartphone #api #evil #economy #bigtech #fail #floss #opensource #principle #opensource #ethics #surfing #web #www #freedom #alphabet surveillance #tracking #power #privacy #root #rooted #question #aosp
Location: Matrix
‘BusPatrol’ Put #AI #Cameras in Tens of Thousands of #School #Buses. Now They Want to Give #Cops #Access
source: 404media.co/buspatrol-put-ai-c…
without paywall: archive.is/20260526155324/404m…
#BusPatrol is aware of the #controversy around #ALPR cameras, and particularly of the concern that #ICE may gain access to the data, according to the BusPatrol documents ...
The danger here, aside from the misuse of data, is above all that children grow up with this and come to see it as normal to be constantly monitored by cameras. A society under constant surveillance develops differently. It is more conformist, less critical, and very keen on blending into the crowd unnoticed and not standing out. This is exactly what the ruling elite wants: a society that silently endures everything because it fears #repression through the cameras.
#news #technology #children #security #cctv #surveillance #privacy #education #camera #society #future #politics #police #control #bigdata #bigtech #bigbrother #orwell #fear #kids #system #matrix #politics #economy #monitoring #tracking #abuse #video #danger #warning #humanity
Location: Matrix
"I asked them if they did this kind of thing often. First time, they said, and pointed out that this study only recruited first-timers. Your body’s data was only valuable once." —Max Callimanopulos for n+1 https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/in-the-reality-lab/?src=longreads #technology #ai #artificialintelligence #meta #longreads
![[?]](https://gamerplus.org/system/accounts/avatars/114/497/966/782/841/054/original/c3c1b4d840d49021.png)
#lispyGopherClimate #live weekly #technology #podcast every 0UTC Wednesday (Tuesday night in the Americas) since 2022.
https://toobnix.org/w/tFN3aeiUunJrU99yzWhHjq
#archive #RSS https://toobnix.org/feeds/videos.xml?accountId=580185
#climateCrisis #haiku by @kentpitman
I want to tie the climatecrisis to an Alexandrian view of the crisis of, I guess, the hugely popular failure of modern industrial architecture.
The meteoric (good) impact Kents notes on my #NicCLIM #software https://lispy-gopher-show.itch.io/nicclim and #CLIM #GUI useage. #commonLisp #McCLIM
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A WIP picture of the evolution of my NicCLIM part-way through trying out some of Kent's notes about it and lisp community expectations about what the presentations and gestures would mean. Believe me, this is already a drastic improvement.
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Lispy Gopher climate unix_surrealism banner. Thinking of Maude you forget everything else
When Pamela Griffin of Taylor, Texas, was growing up, the farmer who owned the land beside her family's told her father he would give his 87 acres for parkland so children could play on it. In 1999 he and his family made good on that promise, granting the land to a public trust on the condition it would be used as a park — the condition was included in the deed itself. Now, Taylor has sold it to Blueprint, a data center developer, for $10 million. @404mediaco explains more.
Proton launched Proton Drive CLI for Windows, macOS, and Linux, bringing encrypted file management, sharing, and automation to the terminal. 💻
Built on the new Drive SDK, the tool supports scripting and backups while using the same end-to-end encryption as Proton Drive apps. 🔐
🔗 https://proton.me/blog/proton-drive-cli
#TechNews #Proton #ProtonDrive #CLI #Linux #OpenSource #Privacy #Encryption #CloudStorage #Security #Terminal #DevOps #SelfHosting #Technology #FOSS #Windows #MacOS #SDK
Meta removed facial-recognition code from its smart glasses app days after reports revealed systems designed to identify people through biometric signatures. 👓
The reversal followed public scrutiny, but questions remain over future deployment plans and any data collected during internal testing. 🔒
#TechNews #Meta #FacialRecognition #SmartGlasses #Biometrics #Privacy #Surveillance #DigitalRights #Transparency #Security #Technology #AI #Data #Freedom #Rights #Facebook
A Canadian government source has told @globeandmail that a social media ban for children under 16 is on its way. It reportedly includes measures on AI chatbots as well as provisions that would allow kids back on social media if platforms make adjustments according to a new digital regulator's standards. Broadly, what do you think of social-media bans for youngsters? Tell us your nuanced views in the comments if you have them. [Gift link]
#Canada #Technology #SocialMedia
| I'm against social media bans for youth: | 61 |
| I'm in favor of social media bans for youth: | 21 |
| Something else — explain in the comments.: | 11 |
Closed
New post: Intent-First Computing
https://lanie.work/technology/intent-first-computing/
#Accessibility #Disability #Technology #AI #Workflow #Cognitive-Prosthetic #Technology
![[?]](https://soc.octade.net/octade/s/3f7f2b5eda4e392867c301c49c2daa16.png)
[3D Printer Laws aren't about guns]
[copypasta]
California AB 2047: The End of Open Source 3D Printing
California just introduced a bill that doesn't just regulate "ghost guns", it mandates a digital kill switch for every 3D printer sold. California AB 2047 requires "blocking technology" that connects your printer to a government-approved database before every single print. If the system goes down, or your file is flagged, your hardware becomes a paperweight.
This isn't just about firearms. This is the death of Open Source. If this bill passes, it effectively bans Marlin, Klipper, and Orca Slicer, forcing every manufacturer to lock down their firmware. It turns general-purpose computing into a walled garden where you only rent permission to use the hardware you own.
[/copypasta]
#OpenSource #RightToRepair #Privacy #Clippy #California #Monopolies #3dPrinters #3dPrinting #Technology #Government #Firearms #Guns #SoftwareFreedom #Surveillance #Panopticon #Lobbyists
All the donor-funded foundations ought to be fighting against and speaking out against this Orwellian garbage.
@eff@mastodon.social
@fsf@hostux.social
@linuxfoundation@social.lfx.dev
@privacyint@mastodon.xyz
@openssf@social.lfx.dev
@rms@mastodon.xyz
@CCIAnet@techpolicy.social
@WriterOfMinds@sigmoid.social
@SeaGL@mastodon.social
@hopeconf@mastodon.online
@w3c@w3c.social
@ACM@mastodon.acm.org
@irtf@discuss.systems
@osi@opensource.org
![[?]](https://files.mastodon.social/accounts/avatars/115/333/963/697/985/024/original/5c8321c0077b7382.png)
This Free App Runs AI Offline On Your iPhone
Privacy meets performance. Discover the breakthrough application that allows you to run powerful Large Language Models directly on your device’s NPU, ensuring your data never leaves your pocket and works even in airplane mode.
#iPhone #AI #Privacy #OnDeviceAI #MobileTech #TechNews #Tech #Technology #science #innovation #news
https://www.technology-news-channel.com/this-free-app-runs-ai-offline-on-your-iphone/
Hexlish Alphabet for English, Constructed Languages and Cryptography: Automatic, Structural Compression with a Phonetic Hexadecimal Alphabet
DOI : https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13139469
Hexlish is a legible, sixteen-letter alphabet for writing the English language and for encoding text as legible base 16 or compressed binary. Texts composed using the alphabet are automatically compressed by exactly fifty percent when converted from Hexlish characters into binary characters. Although technically lossy, this syntactic compression enables recovery of the correct English letters via syntactic reconstruction. The implementer can predict the size of the compressed binary file and the size of the text that will result from decompression. Generally it is intuitive to recognize English alphabet analogues to Hexlish words. This makes Hexlish a legible alternative to the standard hexadecimal alphabet.
#Hexlish #Conlang #Alphabets #English #Hexadecimal #Encoding #Cryptography #Ciphers #Crypto #Encryption #Compression #Papers #Preprints #Orthography #Language #Linguistics #Writing #Glyphs #Alphabetology #Technology
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Hexlish Alphabet logo. The word HEXLISH in rainbow colors on a black background with a hexagonal dot above the letter I. Beneat the logo in yellow reads the phrase, "English Text Compression & Encoding."