This week, the European Parliament’s negotiators reached a broad majority agreement on a common position concerning the controversial EU chat control bill. The Commission’s bill proposes bulk scanning and reporting of private messages for allegedly suspicious content by using error-prone algorithms, including „artificial intelligence“. But the European Parliament’s position removes indiscriminate chat control and allows only for a targeted surveillance of specific individuals and groups reasonably suspicious of being linked to child sexual abuse material, with a judicial warrant. End-to-end encrypted messengers are exempted. Instead, internet services will have to design their services more securely and thus effectively prevent the sexual exploitation of children.

EU lawmaker Patrick Breyer of the Pirate Party, a digital freedom fighter who negotiated the parliamentary position on behalf of his group Greens/EFA, explains:

“Under the impression of massive protests against the looming indiscriminate chat control mass scanning of private messages, we managed to win a broad majority for a different, new approach to protecting young people from abuse and exploitation online. As a pirate and digital freedom fighter, I am proud of this breakthrough. The winners of this agreement are on the one hand our children, who will be protected much more effectively and in a court-proof manner, and on the other hand all citizens, whose digital privacy of correspondence and communication security will be guaranteed.

Even if this compromise, which is supported from the progressive to the conservative camp, is not perfect on all points, it is a historic success that removing chat control and rescuing secure encryption is the common aim of the entire Parliament. We are doing the exact opposite of most EU governments who want to destroy digital privacy of correspondence and secure encryption. Governments must finally accept that this highly dangerous bill can only be fundamentally changed or not be passed at all. The fight against authoritarian chat control must be pursued with all determination!

In detail, our position will protect young people and victims of abuse much more effectively than the EU Commission’s extreme proposal:

1. Security by design: In order to protect young people from grooming, internet services and apps shall be secure by design and default. It must be possible to block and report other users. Only at the request of the user should he or she be publicly addressable and see messages or pictures of other users. Users should be asked for confirmation before sending contact details or nude pictures. Potential perpetrators and victims should be warned where appropriate, for example if they try to search for abuse material using certain search words. Public chats at high risk of grooming are to be moderated.
2. In order to clean the net of child sexual abuse material, the new EU Child Protection Centre is to proactively search publicly accessible internet content automatically for known CSAM. This crawling can also be used in the darknet and is thus more effective than private surveillance measures by providers.
3. Providers who become aware of clearly illegal material will be obliged to remove it – unlike in the EU Commission’s proposal.
4. Law enforcement agencies who become aware of illegal material must report it to the provider for removal. This is our reaction to the case of the darknet platform Boystown, where the worst abuse material was further disseminated for months with the knowledge of Europol.

At the same time, we are pulling the following poisonous teeth out of the EU Commission’s extreme bill:

1. We safeguard the digital secrecy of correspondence and remove the plans for blanket chat control, which violate fundamental rights and stand no chance in court. The current voluntary chat control of private messages (not social networks) by US internet companies is being phased out. Targeted telecommunication surveillance and searches will only be permitted with a judicial warrant and only limited to persons or groups of persons suspected of being linked to child sexual abuse material.
2. We safeguard trust in secure end-to-end encryption. We clearly exclude so-called client-side scanning, i.e. the installation of surveillance functionalities and security vulnerabilities in our smartphones.
3. We guarantee the right to anonymous communication and remove mandatory age verification for users of communication services. Whistleblowers can thus continue to leak wrong-doings anonymously without having to show their identity card or face.
4. Removing instead of blocking: Internet access blocking will be optional. Under no circumstances must legal content be collaterally blocked.
5. We prevent the digital house arrest: We don’t oblige app stores to prevent young people under 16 from installing messenger apps, social networking and gaming apps ‘for their own protection’ as proposed. The General Data Protection Regulation is maintained.”

The EU Parliament’s civil liberties committee is due to confirm the agreement on 13 November.

patrick-breyer.de/en/historic-…

Today, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, had to answer to the LIBE Committee in the course of the lobbying affair concerning Chat control (#ChatControlGate)[1]. Last month, several European media outlets had revealed the close involvement of lobbyists in the preparation of the controversial regulation on sexual child abuse and the interconnections of the EU Commission with a foreign network.[2] Johansson was asked countless critical questions from all parliamentary groups, but she insisted no mistakes had been made. It would only be examined whether she had violated the Digital Services Act with an emotional advertising campaign in member states that reject her Chat control proposal as it stands.

Pirate Party MEP Patrick Breyer, digital freedom fighter and co-negotiator of the proposed regulation, comments:

“It was only to be expected that Johansson would respond to the revelations with her usual propaganda, such as citing a biased and suggestive Eurobarometer survey that violates the rules of good public opinion research.”[1]

“In order to really hold Johansson accountable for her foreign-influenced bill and her lobbying in office, my committee, on our initiative, has demanded full access to all correspondence of her office with lobbying organisations – such as the secret letters of the dubious US foundation Thorn. Only then can we see the full extent of the entanglement with our own eyes.

“We are having the Legal Service look into legal action against the EU Commission for unfair influence and pressure on the legislative process through targeted false advertising in critical countries. And I have today lodged a complaint with the EU Ombudsman.

“The European Data Protection Supervisor is already investigating. We will hold Ms Johansson accountable for her crimes against our fundamental rights and our democracy!”

—

Breyer’s question to Johansson in the LIBE Committee today was:

“It is about #ChatControl Gate today, about your links with a foreign lobby network, so close that you wrote to the Thorn boss yourself: ‘The regulation I propose is a strong European response. Without your help we would not have come this far.’

May I congratulate you on your new side job as a surveillance influencer on the internet? Recently, you actually dared to try to put pressure on critical member states in the current legislative process by means of a targeted emotional disinformation campaign using taxpayers’ money.

What would you actually say if Parliament were to place targeted advertisements in your home country, Sweden, in order to criticise your authoritarian Chat control proposal, which is contrary to fundamental rights?

Have you lost all respect for democracy and your role in the legislative process?

If these methods are really as normal as you write, when else did you purposefully pressure specific countries?

The best thing about your scandalous methods is that they have failed politically in the Council and also in Parliament.

We will hold you accountable for your illegal methods! Our legal service is examining a possible lawsuit against the EU Commission . Today I have lodged a complaint with the EU Ombudsman.”

[1] patrick-breyer.de/en/breyer-on…

[2] balkaninsight.com/2023/09/25/w…

[3] patrick-breyer.de/en/chat-cont…

patrick-breyer.de/en/chat-cont…

Riportiamo l’articolo di Markus Reuter, pubblicato il 15 ottobre 2023 su Netzpolitik Il Fediverso è un’alternativa aperta, gratuita e non commerciale alle piattaforme convenzionali. Ma i server devono essere pagati, i post moderati e la tecnologia deve essere mantenuta in funzione. Quanto costa effettivamente e quanto tempo dedicano gli operatori alle loro istanze Mastodon? Da quando Elon Musk ha...

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informapirata

2023-10-22 20:34:24

Il Fediverso è un’alternativa aperta, gratuita e non commerciale alle piattaforme convenzionali. Ma i server devono essere pagati, i post moderati e la tecnologia deve essere mantenuta in funzione. Quanto costa effettivamente e quanto tempo dedicano gli operatori alle loro istanze Mastodon?

informapirata.it/2023/10/22/qu…

Strasbourg, 19/10/2023 – Pirate Party MEPs are joined by Pirate Party representatives from Germany and Luxembourg in supporting the European Citizens’ Initiative “Fur Free Europe”[1], which was debated today in the European Parliament. The initiative was signed by more than 1.7 million European citizens from 18 countries and must now be addressed by the European Commission. In 2021, the last measured year, the number of animals killed for fur was still 44 million per year. They are also kept in appalling conditions, according to Fur Free Europe.

Marcel Kolaja, Member and Quaestor of the European Parliament, comments:

“In my opinion, such cruelty simply does not belong in 21st century Europe. EU citizens obviously see it the same way and I am very glad that they have made that clear with their petition. I hope that the European Commission will now finally address the problem and present us with a clear plan to end the unnecessary suffering of animals. This is the ideal time to do so, because Russia used to buy most of its fur from the European Union. But interest has declined significantly due to the sanctions. The regions for which this sector was an important source of income are therefore desperately looking for a way out. And if the Commission also proposes support for the transition to another business sector, that will help everyone involved – people and animals alike.”

Marc Goergen, Pirate Party Member of the Chamber of Deputies in Luxembourg, comments:

“As Luxembourgish Pirates, we continue to advocate for a fur-free world in our country, in Europe and outside of the EU. During our first year in parliament in 2019, we asked the government in a motion to prohibit the sale of fur in Luxembourg, citing article 36 of the TFUE. Our motion was defeated, but we will continue to advocate for the abolition of animal cruelty. With a new government in place, we urge them to set a deadline for the retailing of fur in Luxembourg.”

Anja Hirschel, top candidate of the Pirate Party Germany for the 2024 European elections, comments:

“Animals of various species, simply called fur animals according to their use, are kept in farms under conditions that are simply cruel. And this for a product, that can long since be replaced by high quality alternatives. No one needs real fur except the animals born with it. Moreover, it has not only been clear since the Covid pandemic that fur farms, like other factory farms, harbour a danger for all of us that should not be underestimated: viruses find it easier to cross species boundaries there. It is in our best interest to do something about this. To really get there, we have to keep an eye on the entire supply chain. This of course includes imports from non-EU countries.”

German Pirate Party MEP Patrick Breyer comments:

“Fur farms and farmed fur products are completely out of date and have no place in our modern society. Apart from the cruel conditions for the animals that are kept there until they are killed, such facilities also have a significant impact on humans and animals alike as disease carriers. The EU Commission is now called to act, almost 2 million EU citizens must not go unheard! I call for a legislative proposal of the von der Leyen Commission that will finally put an end to this unethical and shameful industry.”

Fur farms are currently banned in 14 EU countries, but are for example still legally permitted in Germany under certain conditions. Finland, Poland, Lithuania and Spain, on the other hand, are among the most problematic countries, the initiative says. The European Commission must take up a citizens’ initiative if it collects more than 1 million verified signatures from more than 7 member states.

[1] furfreealliance.com/fur-free-e…

patrick-breyer.de/en/pirates-t…