A thread for policy nerds 🤓 (a term I use with the upmost respect) to share my views on the latest developments with the EU's proposed #CSARegulation. This is a law which threatens human rights and freedoms online to an extent never before seen in a democratic society:
If you follow Brussels lawmaking, you'll have come across the proposal for a 'CSA Regulation', popularly coined #ChatControl for the sweeping online surveillance measures that the law puts forward. @edri has been extremely critical of the law...
...which we highlight lacks objective evidence, was put forward in a shocking disregard for democratic principles by the Commissioner in charge, and fundamentally jeopardises privacy & safety online, including for the children it is supposed to protect. Well:
Despite our efforts to show that privacy and child protection online are mutually reinforcing, many stakeholders continue to call on the EU to force the use of dodgy, unreliable scanning technology to scan and identify not just suspects, but a vast number of legit internet users.
The harms are so severe that @edri and several partners, including youth rights, digital rights, and democracy orgs, launched the #StopScanningMe campaign. This campaign calls for the respect of human rights online as offline. And in an exciting development...
Individuals can now show their support for an EU approach which keeps us all safe online, and which can actually be effective in helping children, by signing the people's petition at StopScanningMe.eu! And that's not all...
Last month, MEP @alexagiussaliba boldly stood up and opposed big chunks of the EU's proposal on the grounds that it fundamentally undermines existing human rights legislation. This is a really promising development, and we are grateful to Mr Saliba for his commitment to...
..a safe internet for all. With EU-wide scrutiny of this proposed law rising, we hope that @alexagiussaliba & his colleagues in the @EP_SingleMarket committee will take further steps to protect us from #ChatControl and the destruction of free speech and anonymity online. In fact,
Just yesterday, a hearing at the German Parliament saw experts from law enforcement, the public prosecutor’s office, children’s rights groups, IT experts and digital rights groups ALL unanimous in opposing the proposal in its current form! And…
The Austrian Parliament have enacted a legally-binding vote which would prevent their government from being able to agree to an EU law which undermines encryption or fundamental rights (which the current proposal does) en.epicenter.works/content/chat-c….
So, in closing, a reminder that…
We must oppose the false binary that privacy and children's rights are somehow opposed. In fact, 125 NGOs across a broad range of human rights topics, including children's rights, call on the EU for a better solution: edri.org/our-work/europ…
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The EU's landmark #AIAct was agreed at minutes to midnight yesterday. Whilst lawmakers celebrate, human rights groups are sceptical.
As someone who's spent years calling on the EU to #BanBiometricMassSurveillance via @ReclaimYourFace, here's my take on where they landed:
Real-time public facial recognition (RBI): disappointingly, but not surprisingly, member states resisted a full ban. The Parliament fought hard to narrow exceptions and add more safeguards, but it doesn't look like it will be enough to stop widespread biometric mass surveillance;
Real-time RBI 'safeguards': at the press conf, lead MEPs seemed to suggest there would be no possibility for retrospective authorisation. I really hope so, otherwise member states will have a blank cheque to ignore the (already insufficient) rules for 48 hours with impunity;