EU Council Advances Chat Control 2.0 Scanning Proposal
4 hours ago
- EU Council pushes for regulation to let police order internet companies to scan private communications for illegal content without a warrant, focusing on 'parts of a service' over a period.
- Three key points from leaked note: limiting searches to specific suspects offers no added value; scope should be broad, covering new material and child solicitation; Council wants searches authorized in parts of service or for individual users, with judicial review.
- Council may drop own-initiative searches as a last resort if no compromise ensures effectiveness; critics like Patrick Breyer call it mass surveillance, citing Germany where over half of investigations target consensual sexting and 75% of flagged chats are not actionable.
- Council's legal service previously stated scanning entire service or parts is 'highly probable' to be 'general and indiscriminate' surveillance, thus unlawful.