111 lines
3.9 KiB
HTML
111 lines
3.9 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2022-10-26">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>If enforced, EU chat control will limit Free Software</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1 id="if-enforced-eu-chat-control-will-limit-free-software">If enforced, EU chat control will limit Free Software</h1>
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<p>
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Surely you have already heard about the controversial EU draft law on
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mandatory chat control with the supposed aim to effectively tackle
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child sexual abuse. This law implies the monitoring and scanning of
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the communications of citizens – even the securely encrypted
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end-to-end one.
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</p>
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<figure>
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<img src="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/7f/27/c7606f4af28c37eda77b591c8d02.jpg"
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alt="person watching through hole" />
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</figure>
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<p>
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FSFE’s co-founder and programmer Bernhard E. Reiter explains why we
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as Free Software supporters should join the protest against this
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legislation that deprives citizens of the privacy of digital
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correspondence.
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</p>
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<p>
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As a software developer, if I needed a method to transfer data to a
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group of people, I would write an application to encode and decode
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any information/ message I want to send over this channel. Then I
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would distribute the app to my users, using it to communicate with
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them, without anybody being able to see what we write along the
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way.
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</p>
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<p>
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This is so-called end-to-end cryptography, and any software engineer
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can write such an application.
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</p>
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<p>
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Free Software allows everyone to control, write and run their own
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software. This means that they can tinker with their devices, they
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can help each other and even earn money by establishing a business
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based on this software. They are encouraged to use, understand, share
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and improve it.
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</p>
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<p>
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By enforcing all service providers to “scan” chat or other messages,
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the state must also take away the ability - and the right - for you
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and me to write an own version of software that communicates via the
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service providers. Otherwise a scan on the server would be
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useless.
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</p>
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<p>
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The European Commission’s proposed regulation has not fully taken this
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into account. It would hinder people to run their own Free Software
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products on their phones (and other devices) and it would limit
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innovative companies to provide new services based on Free Software
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components with strong security and privacy-friendly technology.
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</p>
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<p>
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Furthermore, the intended regulation would raise the bar for entry
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into a market which is dominated by a few large corporations. Those
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providers of software and central service have lower costs per
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message when installing scanning technology and can take this as an
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excuse not to offer open standard programming interfaces and prevent
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people from writing their own clients or not to offer a decentralised
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service infrastructure which is open for fair competition.
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</p>
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<p>
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This will further burden those aiming to create software for users
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that is inspectable by the public, as is the case with Free Software.
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Additionally, the regulation will also fail to protect children as
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intended for the same technical reasons outlined above.
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</p>
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<p>
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A number of groups and experts have explained <a href="https://edri.org/our-work/why-chat-control-is-so-dangerous/">other
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negative effects of the proposed regulation</a>, and we are joining
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them from a technical and ethical Free Software perspective: Please
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join the protests against the proposed EU Chat control.
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</p>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="policy">European Public Policy</tag>
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<tag key="european-union">European Union</tag>
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<tag key="encryption">encryption</tag>
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</tags>
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<discussion href="https://community.fsfe.org/t/919"/>
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<image url="https://pics.fsfe.org/uploads/medium/7f/27/c7606f4af28c37eda77b591c8d02.jpg"
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alt="person watching through hole"/>
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</html>
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