The European Union is in the midst of an escalating debate over the looming proposals to try and end technological privacy of citizens by curbing end-to-end encryption, all packaged under a regulation supposedly targeted towards reducing child sexual abuse.
The surveillance, which would allow scanning of everyone’s private messages, raises questions not only about privacy and individual rights but also about the integrity of the decision-making process itself. At the heart of the controversy is EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson, who is now under intense scrutiny for the alleged involvement of lobbyists in the bill’s preparation.
This week, startling revelations have emerged, implicating a network of organizations, many linked to the tech industry and security services, as being the primary orchestrators and financiers of the EU’s proposed child sexual abuse regulation. This international campaign’s efforts appear to culminate in the so-called “chat control” regulation. Under this proposed directive, service providers would be mandated to scan and potentially disclose all private electronic communications, a sweeping measure relying heavily on artificial intelligence and other technologies known for their susceptibility to errors.
Yet, it’s the close ties between these lobbying entities and those drafting the legislation that’s causing alarm. Two Europol staff members, for instance, have reportedly transitioned to work for Thorn, a company ardently lobbying for this regulation. The convergence of economic interests and policy-making raises the specter of conflicts of interest, which is now drawing the attention of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE).
LIBE, a stalwart defender of civil liberties, is pressing Johansson for clarifications. Their probe zeroes in on potential “conflicts of interest” and the specter of “possible undue influence in the drafting of the proposal” by vested tech stakeholders.
Patrick Breyer, of the Pirate Party and a member of the Civil Liberties Committee, didn’t mince words on the topic. He remarked, “Johansson will reply to our letter with her usual propaganda on the alleged urgency of her proposal – an argument which we now know has been scripted by a PR agency paid with money of a foreign foundation with ties to US law enforcement. As independent fact-checkers have confirmed, her words cannot be trusted.”
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