While some American officials continue to attack strong encryption as an enabler of child abuse and other crimes, a key European court has upheld it as fundamental to the basic right to privacy. […] While some American officials continue to … Continue reading →

A controversial European Union proposal dubbed “Chat Control” is regaining momentum, with 19 out of 27 EU member states reportedly backing the measure. The plan would mandate that messaging platforms, including WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram, must scan every message, photo … Continue reading →

The EU Commission has been pushing client-side scanning for well over a year. This new intrusion into private communications has been pitched as perhaps the only way to prevent the sharing of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Mandates proposed by … Continue reading →

Encrypted service providers are urging lawmakers to back away from a controversial plan that critics say would undercut effective data protection measures. ProtonMail, Threema, Tresorit and Tutanota — all European companies that offer some form of encrypted services — issued … Continue reading →

A Canadian court has ordered French cloud provider OVHcloud to hand over customer data stored in Europe, potentially undermining the provider’s claims about digital sovereignty protections. According to documents seen by The Register, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) issued … Continue reading →

[…] The EU Council has finally reached an agreement on the controversial Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR) after more than three years of failed attempts. Nicknamed Chat Control by its critics, the agreement has kept cryptographers, technologists, encrypted service providers, … Continue reading →

Germany does not support the Danish proposal on the so-called CSA regulation, which is called ‘chat control’ by critics. The proposal was to be voted on on Tuesday in the EU Council of Ministers, but it has now been taken … Continue reading →

Germany has committed to oppose the EU’s controversial “Chat Control” regulations following huge pressure from multiple activists and major organizations. The draft regs would allow authorities to compel providers of communications services – such as WhatsApp, Signal, etc – to … Continue reading →

The European Union Council is once again debating its controversial message scanning proposal, aka “Chat Control,” that would lead to the scanning of private conversations of billions of people. Chat Control, which EFF has strongly opposed since it was first introduced in 2022, keeps being mildly … Continue reading →

The Signal Foundation announced on October 3, 2025, that it would withdraw its encrypted messaging service from Germany and potentially all of Europe if the European Union’s Chat Control proposal passes in an upcoming vote. According to Signal President Meredith … Continue reading →

“The Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic, at yesterday’s press conference, accused the opposition of upheld the proposal of a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on the establishment of rules for the prevention and … Continue reading →

Techdirt has been covering the disgraceful attempts by the EU to break end-to-end encryption — supposedly in order to “protect the children” — for two years now. An important vote that could have seen EU nations back the proposal was … Continue reading →

European Union officials have delayed talks over proposed legislation that could lead to messaging services having to scan photos and links to detect possible child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Were the proposal to become law, it may require the likes … Continue reading →

On Thursday, the EU Council is scheduled to vote on a legislative proposal that would attempt to protect children online by disallowing confidential communication. The vote had been set for Wednesday but got pushed back [PDF]. Known to detractors as … Continue reading →

[…] Apple brought widespread attention to this so-called client-side scanning in August 2021 when it announced plans to examine photos on iPhones and iPads before they were synced to iCloud, as a safeguard against the distribution of child sexual abuse … Continue reading →

Everyone who wants client-side scanning to be a thing insists it’s a good idea with no potential downsides. The only hangup, they insist, is tech companies’ unwillingness to implement it. And by “implement,” I mean — in far too many … Continue reading →

The EU Ombudsman has found a case of maladministration in the European Commission’s refusal to provide the list of experts, which it first denied existing, with whom they worked together in drafting the regulation to detect and remove online child … Continue reading →