Meredith Whittaker
We're so relieved to see Germany reaffirm its opposition to the dangerous Chat Control proposal--the one that would mandate mass scanning of communications.
Germany's long been a solid champion of privacy, and the news that it was considering backing mass surveillance was alarming. 1/
Meredith Whittaker
The war is not over, however. Now we move to the European Council, where the issue is unresolved. We expect closed-door negotiations to engage in rhetorical arbitrage--claiming to support privacy by using word games and bespoke definitions--while in practice undermining it. Tedious and dangerous 3/
Meredith Whittaker
Defending privacy isn't easy. Those in power always want more access +more info. It's especially hard when emotionally charged args are used to advance surveillance
❤️ to those doing the work!
https://social.bau-ha.us/@CCC
https://d-64.social/@d64eV
https://mastodon.social/@chatcontrol
And many others <3 2/
Meredith Whittaker
The technical consensus is clear: you can't create a backdoor that only lets the "good guys" in. However they're dressed up, these proposals create cybersecurity loopholes that hackers and hostile nations are eagerly waiting to exploit. 6/
Meredith Whittaker
The reality is that scanning any content before it is encrypted negates the very purpose of encryption and is a dangerous backdoor. No amount of tinkering or word games can change that inescapable reality. 5/
Meredith Whittaker
We must be wary of "new" proposals that allow scanning of "known content" while claiming to protect privacy by proscribing "indiscriminate" surveillance. We must also look out for those that mandate only scanning for “hashed images or videos.” 4/
Meredith Whittaker
So we remain vigilant & deeply grateful to our allies.
For Signal, Chat Control is an existential threat. If we were *forced* to choose between building surveillance into our services or keeping our integrity, we would choose integrity & leave the market. We hope it never comes to this. 7/
Aral Balkan
@patrickleavy @Mer__edith They already know. This isn’t about “catching the bad guys” – community policing catches the bad guys – this is about exercising authoritarian control – something that’s increasingly important for governments as it becomes harder for them to maintain the façade of democracy while supporting trillion-dollar corporations, billionaires, and habitat collapse.
Patrick Leavy
@Mer__edith in the negotiations do you suggest to them alternative ways that police and security forces could catch bad actors using encrypted services?
I.e. trying harder with investigative work.
If big tech can track us everywhere and predict our behaviour using metadata, why can't the authorities do the same?
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