The EU's efforts to mandate the scanning of private messages have once again been thwarted, marking another setback for the group's proposed Chat Control legislation and another victory for digital rights activists.

German digital rights activist and politician Patrick Breyer from the Pirate Party stated in an X post on November 15 that the mandated client-side message scanning backdoor has been removed from the latest draft of the "Regulation on the Prevention and Combating of Child Sexual Abuse," commonly referred to as Chat Control. He claimed that during Denmark's presidency of the EU Council—during which the backdoor clause was introduced—additional provisions were added to address this issue:

The draft uses vague language, mentioning "all possible risk mitigation measures," which critics argue would allow authorities to compel service providers to implement chat scanning, especially since the infrastructure for chat scanning is already in place for voluntary implementation.

In a post on November 11, Breyer described this move as "the highest level of political deception," noting that Chat Control "is returning from backdoors—disguised, more dangerous, and more comprehensive." "The public is being treated like fools," he said. Denmark introduced the backdoor despite the significant reduction in monitoring requirements in the bill.

This is the latest attempt by the EU Council to introduce mandatory chat scanning, including checks before encrypted messages are sent from user devices. The last attempt failed after Germany decided to reject the draft, halting its progress.

Breyer wrote in his X post that the proposal only removed mandatory chat control but still includes age checks that undermine the anonymity of communication services and voluntary mass scanning. He added, "The fight will continue next year!"

The legislative process is still ongoing, and the current version of the bill has not been finalized. On November 19, the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the EU Member States (COREPER II) is expected to approve the bill without debate, listing it as a "non-discussion" item. Once signed by the body, the text will be submitted to a formal ministerial council meeting, where it may pass without discussion unless a minister specifically requests a withdrawal.

So far, some unencrypted communication services, such as Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, Skype, Snapchat, iCloud email, and Xbox, have implemented chat scanning. Through mandatory scanning, the European Commission—the EU's main executive body—expects the number of system-generated reports to increase by 3.5 times.

Breyer stated that a clarification on November 13 ensured that "chat control should not be mandatory, even through backdoors." However, he pointed out other issues in the current draft, including allowing voluntary chat control for mass scanning of messages without a court order and new age verification requirements that "will make anonymous email and instant messaging accounts virtually impossible to exist and will exclude teenagers under 17 from many applications."

Privacy and encryption rights have long been contentious issues. Bitcoin (BTC) itself originated from the pro-encryption movement known as cypherpunk. This 1980s movement consisted of a broad group advocating for the widespread use of privacy-enhancing technologies, including many early Bitcoin developers and community members.

The Bitcoin white paper cited a previous paper by British cryptographer and cypherpunk Adam Back as inspiration, laying the groundwork for Satoshi Nakamoto. The movement actively protested against U.S. laws restricting the export of encryption technology.

Within the movement, cypherpunks distributed T-shirts printed with cryptography-related information to highlight the absurdity of these laws, with Back himself personally involved. The T-shirt warned that it "is classified as munitions and may not be exported from the U.S. or displayed to foreign nationals."

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Original text: “Chat Control” legislation faces setback as EU abandons mandatory scanning

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