Belgium-led EU Council Scraps Plans for AI Surveillance on Messaging Apps
Summary:
The Belgium-led presidency of the European Council has discarded plans to monitor messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Signal. The dropped proposal, Chat Control 2, involved AI-powered mass surveillance of user messages to identify child sexual exploitation content. Initially forwarded in 2023, the regulation was rejected by the European Parliament for overreach and subsequently scaled down. David Nimerg, Aleph Zero’s co-founder, argued the law would harm law-abiding citizens more than it would deter criminals. Questions remain over the future of the legislation and possible impacts on user privacy.
The Belgium-led presidency of the Council of the European Union has cancelled its proposals to monitor messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Signal. The proposal, known as Chat Control 2, would have enabled mass surveillance of users' messages, including images, videos and URLs, utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify child sexual exploitation content. The legislation was set for voting on June 20 but was dropped due to lack of substantial support. Aleph Zero’s co-founder, Matthew Nimerg described the legislation as ill-conceived saying, “Undermining lawful citizens' rights in a bid to hinder the use and distribution of illegal content is not the way to go. Public safety should not translate to citizen surveillance, we should bear in mind history.” He argued that the legislation if implemented, would affect regular users more than the criminals since they would employ open-source tools to evade the law. The EU initially proposed the legislation in 2023 with extensive powers to access text messages and audio, and it has since been modified. European Parliament declined the bill due to its extent, subsequently, it was scaled down to scan images, videos and URLs using AI. Users needed to concede to the scans to utilize the service. However, critics argue that such diluted laws could be initial steps to intrusive regulations. The law might be reintroduced in another format, however, it has not been approved by the parliament yet, and its unclear if the regulators agree. On June 20, Patrick Breyer, a privacy advocate and Member of the European Parliament warned that, “Without the collective pushback from individuals and organizations across Europe, the EU would have today decided on authoritarian undiscriminating chat control, ending digital privacy on correspondence and encryption." Drawing parallels from the UK with its Online Safety Bill passed in October 2023, this EU legislation shows increasing government invasiveness. Besides the protection of children, the bill also aimed to manage coercive behavior, sexual violence, people trafficking, suicides, drugs, terrorism among other issues. Hence, the EU law on anti-child abuse could expand into different areas after being accepted. This law led WhatsApp and Signal to contemplate leaving the UK, resolved when the UK Minister for Arts and Heritage, Stephen Parkinson informed regulators will interfere only if scanning content was feasible technologically. Mark Johnson from UK's Big Brother Watch commented, “It is a positive move that the EU has stalled their plans of chat control measures. Although these proposals wouldn't have affected the UK directly, any laws that enable government interference in messaging apps like WhatsApp have privacy implications for its users." Now, the focus is on the EU's next steps in revising its legislation. Breyer emphasized that only judiciary should have the power to order messaging app scans, stating, “This is the only method to avert an unbalanced mass surveillance order inevitably failing in court and doing nothing for children’s protection.”
Published At
7/1/2024 4:42:09 PM
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