Chat Control Is Back on the Menu in the Eu. It Still Must Be Stopped

Posted3 months agoActive3 months ago

latexr

76 points

33 comments

eff.orgOtherstory

heatednegative

Debate

85/100

EU Chat ControlSurveillancePrivacy

Key topics

EU Chat Control

Surveillance

Privacy

The EU is revisiting the Chat Control proposal, sparking concerns about privacy and surveillance, with commenters expressing frustration and skepticism about the implications.

Snapshot generated from the HN discussion

Discussion Activity

Very active discussion

First comment

21m

Peak period

0-12h

Avg / period

8.3

Comment distribution33 data points

Loading chart...

Based on 33 loaded comments

Key moments

01Story posted
Sep 30, 2025 at 8:24 AM EDT
3 months ago
Step 01
02First comment
Sep 30, 2025 at 8:45 AM EDT
21m after posting
Step 02
03Peak activity
30 comments in 0-12h
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03
04Latest activity
Oct 5, 2025 at 7:33 AM EDT
3 months ago
Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (33 comments)

Showing 33 comments

billy99k

3 months ago

2 replies

grumble grumble..something about brexiters being right..grumble..grumble.

Macha

3 months ago

1 reply

This would be more believable if the UK hadn't already passed this type of legislation.

dblacc

3 months ago

1 reply

has it ?

Macha

3 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Safety_Act_2023

guerrilla

3 months ago

You must be kidding. The UK is far worse than this and still paying the price for Brexit as well.

tharne

3 months ago

3 replies

It continues to amaze me how much time Europeans spend criticizing the U.S. for all of our nonsense, while they too are sprinting toward a more authoritarian future.

Hikikomori

3 months ago

1 reply

It's almost like its different people.

piva00

3 months ago

1 reply

It is also the same people, criticising the USA for the bullshit they do, and the EU for the bullshit they do.

Not sure why it needs to be camp X vs camp Y, the same people can criticise both...

rightbyte

3 months ago

There is this sudden resurgance of jingoism to account for that.

latexrAuthor

3 months ago

1 reply

There’s no incongruence in criticising both. Don’t be a tribalist arguing for one over the other; criticise each for what they do wrong, and praise each for what they do right.

Argue for a better world for all instead of wishing for others to be worse off.

tharne

3 months ago

There's no incongruence as you say, but focusing on problems in other countries where you have little to no first hand knowledge or influence and no real skin in the game is just a distraction.

shafyy

3 months ago

We can criticise the US and the EU at the same time.

nickslaughter02

3 months ago

1 reply

EU countries will vote on the proposal on October 13th during the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting.

latexrAuthor

3 months ago

1 reply

It’s on the 14th. From the article:

> Despite strong opposition, Denmark is pushing forward and taking its current proposal to the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting on October 14th.

Eddy_Viscosity2

3 months ago

2 replies

What is it about the Danes in particular that make them want to be spied on and surveilled by the government? Is it some sort of weird national fetish?

kode95

3 months ago

1 reply

As a Dane: I'm not sure how you reached that conclusion. A ton of people in Denmark are sceptical about this. You may argue that the Danes voted for the government that is now in favor in the surveillance, but the issue of surveillance weren't even on the agenda in the last election, so this has taken most people by surprise.

Eddy_Viscosity2

3 months ago

Is there any way to remove elected EU representatives from office?

When are the next EU elections? Is anyone using this as a campaigning issue, like "Don't vote these crooks in again, vote for me and I will end this chat control nonsense!"

latexrAuthor

3 months ago

The Danish people don’t want it, there’s even a parliamentary petition against it.

https://mastodon.social/@chatcontrol/115241974344102261

It’s just that the current Presidency of the Council of the European Union is Danish, so they are the ones with the authority to push this now.

https://danish-presidency.consilium.europa.eu

hugoromano

3 months ago

1 reply

Politicians promoting Chat Control are handing an advantage to dictatorships, organized crime, and adversaries of the European Union or perhaps they're assets of those very adversaries.

nickslaughter02

3 months ago

> or perhaps they're assets of those very adversaries

They have damaged the image of EU to the point that I think it's plausible.

thw_9a83c

3 months ago

1 reply

It's not even active yet, and I have already started to have an icky feeling when using things like WhatsUp. Who will watch the watchers?

xela79

3 months ago

> and I have already started to have an icky feeling when using things like WhatsUp.

since when? since Facebook bought it, right? right???

EGreg

3 months ago

2 replies

Perhaps now my response to Moxie Marlinspike from years ago is as relevant as ever, including for people on HN:

https://community.intercoin.app/t/web3-moxie-signal-telegram...

I guess Moxie “found out”, because being centralized, Signal can have only one response to this — retreat and retreat: https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/we-will-n...

Decentralized open source is essential to human freedom. I can’t believe so many talented technologists and entrepreneurs are on HN correctly diagnosing the problems with relying on centralized platforms of governments and corporations, but then these same people oppose anything that has the words “web3” or “blockchain” in it. They oppose it so strongly, they won’t click and read any details, they’ll just knee-jerk downvote it. And they’ll boost every argument against it. But we absolutely need ways to monetize open source and have it compete without becoming enshittified, pleasing shareholders and creating big juicy targets for governments and advertisers. Opposing micropayments and blockchain settlements is just useful idiocy in the governments’ war against privacy and autonomy, and make no mistake, it is a global war, not just in the EU. Here is the map:

https://community.qbix.com/t/the-global-war-on-end-to-end-en...

It is not just the EU. It is a probably happening in your country as we speak.

rightbyte

3 months ago

1 reply

> but then these same people

Do you keep track of the user names? There is no hive mind.

EGreg

3 months ago

I am speaking in generalities, over years of experience seeing what gets downvoted and defended

Web3 and blockchain - downvoted without engagement with substance

Any criticism of AI - both downvoted and has a comment: “it was always like this even before AI”

soraminazuki

3 months ago

1 reply

I can get behind making secure chats decentralized, but putting it on a blockchain? Why? I don't want my supposedly private chats going to a public ledger, encrypted or not.

EGreg

3 months ago

No, you aren't supposed to put the chats on a blockchain. You're supposed to settle the micropayments (done over trustlines, state channels) to a blockchain.

Here are the deets: https://qbix.com/ecosystem#Decentralized-Ecosystem

puppycodes

3 months ago

1 reply

It's hard to beleive the number of intelligent people involved in this terrible idea

soraminazuki

3 months ago

Oh, how we all wish that people with terrible ideas are all unintelligent.

NSPG911

3 months ago

what is going on with society now what happened to a fun internet

nickslaughter02

3 months ago

I think many outside of EU dismiss this as an EU only thing and don't think much about it.

1. Have you ever texted someone from EU? You are now chat controlled too.

2. EU is pumping billions to foreign countries to promote EU values. How long until they condition this "help" with chat control?

nomnomshark41

3 months ago

that's why projects should be build around decentralization and post quantum encryption like Chhaya

railka

3 months ago

If politicians keep bringing this up, why shouldn't EU citizens bring up the issue of losing trust in politicians (using the same tactic—over and over again)?

View full discussion on Hacker News

ID: 45424573Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 7:35:46 PM

Want the full context?

Jump to the original sources

Read the primary article or dive into the live Hacker News thread when you're ready.

Open link View on HN