German Yes to chat control? CCC & Co. warn of threat to fundamental rights

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The Chaos Computer Club (CCC), the net-political association D64 and other civil society actors from the "Stop Chat Control" alliance are issuing an urgent warning about the impending adoption of the EU Commission's draft regulation on mass online surveillance. This has been contested for years, under the banner of the fight against child sexual abuse. The initiative is on the agenda of the EU Council of Ministers on 14 October under the current Danish Presidency. The organizations are calling on the German government to reaffirm the "no" vote from the traffic light era and thus avert a "catastrophe" for digital security and the fundamental rights of around 500 million EU citizens.

In view of the imminent vote and the serious consequences, the NGOs are criticizing the German government's silence. Neither the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice, nor the Digital Ministry have yet commented on the final German position. The organizations warn that the executive would be breaking key promises from the coalition agreement if it were to give its approval in Brussels. In this agreement, the coalition promised to continue to guarantee the confidentiality of private communications and anonymity online.

Dispute over client-side scanning

The current proposal from the Danish Council Presidency contains all the controversial measures that have so far failed at EU level. Essentially, it is still about scanning communication content such as images, films, and linked websites for known and even unknown depictions of child abuse.

The Danes also rely on client-side scanning to circumvent the widespread end-to-end encryption in messengers such as Signal, Threema, and WhatsApp. The CCC emphasizes that this is merely a euphemistic term for direct surveillance on the end device and can never be minimally invasive, as the measure is directed against the will of the user.

The consequence: deliberate security loopholes, aka backdoors, would have to be placed in protocols or devices. "If such a law on chat control is introduced, we will not only pay for it with the loss of our privacy. We are also opening the door to attacks on secure communication infrastructure," says CCC spokesperson Elina Eickstädt, sounding the alarm. Confidential communication – a crucial component of IT security in the digitalized world – would effectively be made impossible.

Infringement of fundamental rights and chilling effects

D64 sees the real-time search of private communications as an unprecedented encroachment on fundamental rights. Co-chair Svea Windwehr clarifies: "There is no version of chat control that does not destroy the encryption and confidentiality of private communication."

The control options would trigger systematic "chilling effects" – an atmosphere of self-censorship. Freedom of expression, the confidential communication of whistleblowers and the protection of sources for journalists would be massively jeopardized. D64 also fears that such a surveillance infrastructure could be misused by autocratic states to suppress opposition and criticism.

Counterproductive for child protection

Both organizations argue that chat control is also counterproductive from a child protection perspective. The required AI systems are prone to errors and would produce millions of false reports, which would place an extreme burden on investigating authorities and cause actual cases to get lost in the data rubbish. Law enforcement agencies and child protection organizations also criticize this approach. Instead, D64 is calling for prevention and support for those affected to take centre stage rather than relying on supposedly technical solutions.

The appeal to the government is clear: considering the broad alliance against chat control, including from the scientific community, and the ongoing case law of the European Court of Human Rights, Germany must maintain its position. A German veto could encourage other EU states to also vote against the proposal and send a signal in favour of the non-negotiability of fundamental rights. "Stop Chat Control" has published "instructions" on the web on how citizens can reach the relevant ministries, parliamentary groups, and members of the Bundestag.

The umbrella organization European Digital Rights (EDRi) points out that chat control would not only be a cybersecurity nightmare that even intelligence services would advise against. The negotiated draft also makes it likely "that all digital communication services would require age verification of users." However, all available age verification systems have been shown to pose "a threat to freedom of expression, autonomy, and privacy".

(wre)