August 9th, 2025
The 'pandemic' accelerated surveillance and control mechanisms over large masses of the population under the pretext of protecting health. But the voracity of states advances relentlessly, especially in Europe.
On August 6, a project supported by several European Union member states called "Chat Control" came to light to record all private messages, including those protected by end-to-end encryption.
The repressive European policy aims to verify the age of social media users, a process that will pave the way for mandatory digital identification and detailed tracking of users' movements across different internet services.
Among the countries promoting digital surveillance are Spain, France, Germany, and Poland. As always, these types of repressive measures are surrounded by futile pretexts. This time, the goal is to combat child sexual abuse content.
However, the technical mechanism being monitored is the user ("client-side scanning"). The bill requires messages to be recorded before encryption, directly on users' phones, tablets, or computers. This technique circumvents encrypted protections by acting at the source, directly on the device.
Encrypted messaging services, such as WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram, would be required to integrate detection tools capable of automatically reporting certain content, both text and image, to the police.
Some social networks, such as X/Twitter, have already begun requiring users to identify themselves in order to access certain content.
This is unprecedented mass surveillance in the European Union. The Council of the European Union's own judges point to the measure's lack of proportionality. They cite a high risk of "false positives"—erroneous alerts targeting innocent people—and a serious violation of the right to privacy.
Child sex trafficking networks rarely use traditional messaging services, and mass surveillance undermines the digital security of social media users.
Under the pretext of protecting minors, the bill takes another step forward in transforming social media into mechanisms for surveillance and user control. It paves the way for the systematic recording of private communications, without the need for prior judicial authorization.
If the bill is passed, it would set an important legal precedent: the State would gain the right to access people's private messages, including those circulated encrypted. Secure communication systems will have disappeared from the internet because the axiom always holds true: making private content available to the State means making it accessible to anyone.
Germany Legalizes Digital Spying
Privacy protection has become a thing of the past, and so has the role of judges. Germany is preparing a 170-page bill to "modernize the Federal Police Act."
The goal is to equip law enforcement agencies with cutting-edge technologies, such as the ability to penetrate personal devices preemptively and without the need for judicial authorization.
Police can install all kinds of "Trojan horses" on cell phones and computers to monitor individuals. It also authorizes the systematic collection of passenger data on all flights entering and leaving the Schengen area.
Until now, the creation of databases on individuals had to be validated by independent authorities. This is no longer necessary, which expands the police's powers to gather and centralize information on individual individuals.
The bill institutionalizes preventive surveillance, even without the slightest legitimate suspicion. It's no longer about pursuing criminal conduct, but rather anticipating the possibility of suspicious behavior, even if it entails violating citizens' privacy.
The list of technologies envisaged in the bill is worrying: drones, cell phone sensors (IMSI catchers), anti-drone systems, license plate recognition, expanded DNA collection, video surveillance cameras, covert operations... A whole arsenal that will turn the police into a central player in widespread digital control.
The bill was presented in the middle of summer, leaving open the possibility of debate for just two weeks, because the government doesn't want to draw Germans' attention to the design of the police force of the future.
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