IT-säkerhetsexperten: ”Chat Control är ett förtäckt massövervakningsförslag”

Karim Licka security expert Welcome here Thank you very much ChatControl is once again being voted on in Brussels This means surveillance in a way we have not seen before What is ChatControl and why is it dangerous The EU is working on a new proposal a new regulation concerning the fight against child abuse in digital media Och ChatControl is the part of the draft regulation that deals with building backdoors into our messaging apps This makes it possible for those who provide the messaging apps to scan our images videos and links for child abuse material This is a good thing but what can this type of monitoring lead to The goal itself is praiseworthy but the proposal has first of all no chance of achieving that goal This is essentially just a concealed mass surveillance proposal Secondly it has very serious consequences It removes our human right to communicate without being monitored Removing it poses both an integrity risk but above all a societal risk For the same backdoors that we in the EU want to use to try to find child sexual abuse material It can be used by other states to monitor what we write and what they are interested in We have freedom of speech in Sweden and Europe In many cases digital legislation has not kept up What does this mean for personal freedoms and rights for Europeans This means the right to communicate without surveillance is disappearing If this proposal is approved those providing apps for private communication mus Install rear doors that allow for a so-called tracking order There is a requirement to scan a specific part of the communication that goes through the app then they must be able to do it We should then consider that these back doors can be used by other countries To discover what those countries are interested in We will use these back doors to scan for child abuse material Countries and other nations may be interested in scanning for things that are illegal in those countries Homosexuality abortion issues regime criticism If we open the back doors there will no longer be a way to communicate securely The current US administration has strongly criticized censorship in Europe JD Vance the vice president gave a fiery speech on this topic in Munich a while ago In the UK people are now being imprisoned for things they write on social media Many of these media platforms are American these are their services How does the USA react to this Either the two authorities have issued a letter to the American tech giants They explain that they cannot weaken the security of these communication services to meet demands from other countries It's because other countries don't have Americans' interest as their top priority This is especially relevant in the US after it was discovered that a state-linked threat actor was involved They had infiltrated the American operators' network and eavesdropped on American communications We should also keep in mind that when it comes to the apps we use in the EU most of them are American It's actually quite insane that we believe we can demand that the US build backdoors into their apps or that American companies build backdoors into their apps Since then it has been used to scan for what we in the EU dictate If the situation had been the opposite if we had used a lot of European chat apps and the USA had demanded that we install American backdoors to scan for what the USA dictates So we had laughed at the USA So it's very strange that we believe the EU has the ability to control the entire world To control the global communication apps Because we need to remember that these are global communication apps we are talking about It's not just about communication within the EU it's about communication between us and the entire world The ovens we build in have consequences for the entire world This type of insight is very serious for free debate in Sweden and Europe What would it mean if Russia and China in many of those countries What would it mean if this type of regime also gained access to this kind of backdoors It's over for Swedish public safety There is a similar proposal it's not exactly the same but a similar proposal that has been submitted in Sweden We in Sweden want to demand that the chat apps used here have backdoors built in The military has been very clear and has taken a firm stance stating that this cannot be carried out without the risk of backdoors being exploited by third parties Even though the technique seems a bit different in my opinion it's the same thing here when it comes to chat control If we install back doors it means we will also risk being monitored by other countries Then it ended as it did for Britain When Britain demanded they be given a global backdoor to Apple's cloud storage service Then Apple announced that no they can't but we can however disable the possibility for Britons to activate encrypted storage in Apple's cloud service That is what they did So that was the only outcome when the British wanted a global backdoor It was about the British losing the chance to activate secure storage in Apple's cloud service This could happen here We have already seen that Signal one of the most popular encrypted messaging apps They have said that if chat control passes they will leave the EU And that is very wise in my opinion To prevent the rest of the world from having to suffer for our inability to stop our politicians who advocate mass surveillance in violation of human rights We have seen examples in other parts of the world where this type of tech giant has given in to pressure What happened for example in Hong Kong Apple has lagged behind in some cases For example when it comes to requirements from China Apple previously had a feature that allowed sending messages from one phone to multiple other phones without going through mobile networks This feature is no longer available following the protests in China And we must remember that China is one of Apple's most important markets So if suddenly in the EU we get a backdoor to Apple's messaging services What will China then respond with Are you also going to demand a back door And what will they use it for then Can Apple withstand it given that China is such an important market for Apple This is the second time that ChatControl is set to be implemented in the EU The first time was in 2022 It was Ylva Johansson who pushed for it How close are we to it being pushed through again The proposal has been made more than once What is a bit special now is that for example Germany is wavering regarding its position in the ministerial council For the proposal to pass it must be approved by both the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament But the council has previously had what is called a blocking minority It has been a large portion of the EU that has opposed the proposal for it to pass Germany is beginning to waver which could help the proposal pass in the ministerial council Well we'll have to see what happens next in the European Parliament The last time it was brought up in the European Parliament the proposal was adopted in an unusually or perhaps never before damaged consensus Now we have had a new election to the European Parliament and it remains to be seen how the European Parliament will deliberate on the new compromise proposal submitted by Denmark