11 ms·

One-man campaign ravages EU 'Chat Control' bill

• zaik 1y ago
  > A website set up by an unknown Dane > The website, called Fight Chat Control, was set up by Joachim, a 30-year-old software engineer living in Aalborg, Denmark. That's a lot of knowledge about an unknown person.
  • willvarfar 1y ago
    Further down the article explains: > Joachim himself declined to provide his last name or workplace because his employer does not want to be associated with the campaign. POLITICO has verified his identity. Joachim said his employer has no commercial interest in the legislation, and he alone paid the costs associated with running the website.
    • nickslaughter02 1y ago
      I wouldn't be surprised if he was still targeted by the people and companies lobbying for the law.
      • ACCount37 1y ago
        [flagged]
      • veeti 1y ago
        You can't fire people in Denmark for having the wrong opinions.
        • m0llusk 1y ago
          Work is more than being fired or not.
          • mrweasel 1y ago
            True, but having worked for quite a few software companies in that city, most probably agree with him. Hell, he'd probably get job offers. But I don't blame him, the Danish minister of justice who is pushing for this bill is a complete nut job. So technically it go hurt him if he needs a security clearance with Danish police or military intelligence.
      • poizan42 1y ago
        Yeah, there were 119 people born in 1995 with first name Joachim, and 123 in 1994[0]. There is a pretty good chance that there is currently only one 30-years old Joachim employed as a software engineer in Aalborg. [0]: https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/emner/borgere/navne/navne-til-nyfoedte https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/emner/borgere/navne/navne-ti...
        • WastedCucumber 1y ago
          Gosh I hope Joachim isn't his real name.
        • wvbdmp 1y ago
          Could be a German immigrant. I don’t know much about Danish naming conventions, but I imagine Joachim is more prevalent in Germany.
          • poizan42 1y ago
            Dunno, but there aren't enough German immigrants to do much to the statistics anyways.
  • netsharc 1y ago
    Yeah, a quick search says there's 21000 men aged 25-34 in Aalborg. Let's say an equal spread of 2100 men in each age, how many would be named Joachim? Probably a few dozens...
    • ipaddr 1y ago
      Over 2,000. It's not as common as Joe.
      • zamadatix 1y ago
        I think they mean of the ~2100 which are 30.
    • Agingcoder 1y ago
      The fake anonymity journalists often give to sources (‘Richard D , from small town X, aged 34, works as a carpenter specializing in 16th century house renovation’) is something I find rather striking. What’s not clear to me though is whether they’re deliberately tricking their source, or whether they genuinely don’t understand that their source is not anonymous when they give that many details.
    • poizan42 1y ago
      You can find statistics about number of people born in Denmark in a given year with a given name at https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/emner/borgere/navne/navne-til-nyfoedte https://www.dst.dk/da/Statistik/emner/borgere/navne/navne-ti... There are 119 people born in 1995 with first name Joachim, and 123 in 1994. So probably somewhere around 120 30-year old Joachims in Denmark right now. About 3.75% of the population lives in Aalborg. So assuming an even distribution of 30-years old Joachims, we would expect 4-5 people in Aalborg. There seems to be a very good chance that there is only one possible software engineer named Joachim then.
  • bapak 1y ago
    "unknown" means "not known by most", not just "not known by anyone"
• nickslaughter02 1y ago
  The EU hero of 2025.
• 1gn15 1y ago
  Thanks Joachim! Still frustrating that Politico still implies that the bill has any power to stop CSAM, given that everyone who wants to trade it will obviously just use another layer of encryption. > The campaign has irked some recipients. “In terms of dialog within a democracy, this is not a dialog,” said Lena Düpont, a German member of the European People’s Party group and its home affairs spokesperson, of the mass emails. What is a dialog, then? A dialogue between well-connected lobbyists and bureaucrats, and everyone else should just shut up and take it? Or, or, "normal people" sending emails only for the lawmakers to go "thanks for the feedback, we're doing it anyway"? > One EU diplomat said some EU member countries are now more hesitant to support Denmark’s proposal, at least in part because of the campaign: “There is a clear link.” > Ella Jakubowska, head of policy at digital rights group EDRi, said “This campaign seems to have raised the topic high up the agenda in member states where there was previously little to no public debate." This is amazing, and makes me regain a bit of (much destroyed) faith in democracy. > But Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard, one of the loudest proponents of tough measures to get child abuse material off online platforms, said in a statement that his proposal is far more balanced than the Commission’s original version and would mean that scanning would only happen as a last resort. If the option is there, it will be abused.
  • raverbashing 1y ago
    > But Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard, one of the loudest proponents of tough measures Good, this is the person that should be blamed loud and clear
    • nickslaughter02 1y ago
      Peter Hummelgaard, Danish Minister of Justice: "I indisputably believe that surveillance creates an increased sense of security ... and given that the prerequisite for freedom is security, yes, I believe that more surveillance equates to more freedom" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45473136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45473136
      • Telaneo 1y ago
• limbero 1y ago
  Isn't this an egregious headline for such a neutral article? I guess it's just clickbait, but I haven't previously found Politico to be this extreme. And the article itself describes the actual setup accurately in one of the opening paragraphs, so clearly the author knows the facts: > The site lets visitors compile a mass email warning about the bill and send it... And most of the other headlines on their current front page are quite boring and descriptive.
  • croes 1y ago
    >trying to pass a European bill aimed at stopping child sexual abuse material from spreading online. I wouldn’t call that neutral.
    • Braxton1980 1y ago
      Why? That's what the bill's intentions are. If you think it won't work or not be effective that doesn't change the stated intention. If you think one or more of the proponents are lying that doesn't change what the article should state unless there is evidence They already said "aimed at" which implies that's the goal instead of writing "that will stop child..." It's not an opinion piece they are simplifying conveying information from both sides. The article even details that there is an opposition to the bill.
      • JoshTriplett 1y ago
        > Why? That's what the bill's intentions are. It's always the stated intention, because it's hard to argue against "think of the children". From commentary on similar legislation in the UK: https://bsky.app/profile/tupped.bsky.social/post/3lwgcmswmy222 https://bsky.app/profile/tupped.bsky.social/post/3lwgcmswmy2... > The U.K. Online Safety Act was (avowedly, as revealed in a recent High Court case) “not primarily aimed at protecting children” but at regulating “services that have a significant influence over public discourse.” I have every expectation that Chat Control is either similar or is a blatant cash-grab by people interested in peddling technical "solutions", or both. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45508537 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45508537
• nabla9 1y ago
  Joachim is the one-man in right place. Thanks.
• iamnothere 1y ago
  Absolute hero, and a slap in the face to many commenters here who seem to believe that individuals can’t have a political impact through the clever application of technology. Fairly simple technology at that. A good comparison is the deflock.me site that seems to be successfully raising awareness of widespread surveillance. Note that this technology complemented ongoing campaigns rather than standing alone; that’s important. It would be difficult to have an impact by building a tool in isolation.
  • HexPhantom 1y ago
    Yep, the tech doesn't have to be complex to be powerful. It just has to move people
• mcphage 1y ago
  > Joachim's campaign is blocking more traditional lobbyists and campaigners, too, they said. Mieke Schuurman, director at child rights group Eurochild, said the group’s messages are no longer reaching policymakers, who “increasingly respond with automated replies.” So, previously they could blow off people like Mieke personally, and now they're getting too many messages to be able to do that. That seems like a pretty clear win.
  • wkat4242 1y ago
    Well I don't mind that they're blowing her off because she's campaigning to monitor everyone's communication.
  • KoolKat23 1y ago
    I can't decide if it's entitlement or bias (false equivalence), that the group feel they deserve more of a voice than anyone else.
• docdeek 1y ago
  The site is linked in the article but adding it here: https://fightchatcontrol.eu https://fightchatcontrol.eu
  • japanuspus 1y ago
    Please go have a look -- this is really well done with a clear message, good documentation and the call to action implemented very nicely (which is the background for TFA).
  • WhyNotHugo 1y ago
    Do I need to be an EU citizen to reach out to a representative in this case, or do they represent all legal residents regardless of citizenship?
• croes 1y ago
  Where is that spam? > trying to pass a European bill aimed at stopping child sexual abuse material from spreading online. Nice try on framing. No, you don’t stop the spread of the material that way. It will just change distribution channel for the price of creating a tool for mass surveillance.
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• komali2 1y ago
  I'm fascinated by ultra high impact, nonviolent interventions by individuals, such as this. My favorite example was when a few people made Twitter accounts masquerading as large companies, bought a verified stamp, and then issued a couple tweets that single handedly wiped billions off the companies' stock prices. If anyone else knows of similar interventions, I would love to learn of them. It makes me think about how individuals can force multiply their impact, and whether there's methods for personal empowerment to be learned from these examples.
  • jopsen 1y ago
    He isn't alone, lots of people sent the emails from their personal account. You can have outsized impact by participating in democracy.
    • komali2 1y ago
      > You can have outsized impact by participating in democracy. That's exactly my point, the normal mode of "participating" in democracy is usually called voting, which, individually, in most elections, does nothing. Only in aggregate does a vote matter, there's not been an election decided by a single vote in my lifetime, that I'm aware of anyway. So in reality, to effectively participate in democracy at minimum requires doing something as an individual that causes more than just your vote to happen for the candidate you want. Door knocking or calls for example. So just saying "participating" isn't enough because many people just interpret that as voting, which is an act with no individual impact. I'm interested in actions individuals can take that have actual impact, and are thus individually empowering. I believe liberal democracy has made nations of sleepwalkers and the result is becoming apparent in the 21st century as governments seem to act more and more against the will of the people.
      • jopsen 1y ago
        Your right that some people think voting means participating in democracy. But public debate, petitions, the press, demonstrations, etc. is also an important part of democracy. But really, if you want impact, don't do it individually: join a group, a party, an NGO, etc. As an individual you shouldn't have much impact in a democracy. The fact there are many individuals trying kind works to keep the barrier for impact high - which is good, without it no stability.
• notachatbot123 1y ago
  FYI: Politico is owned by Axel Springer SE, a hateful, aggressive and undemocratic German media and news company.
  • pixxel 1y ago
    [dead]
  • wkat4242 1y ago
    They have also dumped their barely disguised spyware called Upday onto Samsung customers for years by preinstalling that crap
• isoprophlex 1y ago
  > a massive headache to those trying to pass a European bill aimed at stopping child sexual abuse material from spreading online. No, what the actual fuck: it's a bill rolling out a CSAM scanner of unproven efficacy, but with severe side effects for privacy! See, one sentence, and immediately a reader sees that this is a nuanced, contested issue. What kind of reporting is this, extremely one-sided. Politico, many such cases. Sad.
• slackfan 1y ago
  How are the EU legislators complaining about this like its a novel idea or somehow undemocratic? This sort of email templating website has been a fixture of contact your reps movements on the state and federal level for years in the states. I also get a kick out of lobbyists complaining about it. Sorry, but this is what democracy looks like.
• like_any_other 1y ago
  > a European Union proposal to fight child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — a bill seen by privacy activists as breaking encryption and leading to mass surveillance Why not call it: "a proposal to break encryption and enact mass surveillance, claimed to be used to fight CSAM"? How did the author decide which part to present as plain fact, and which as mere activist opinion? The choice isn't arbitrary - the proposal definitely will break encryption and enact mass surveillance - that's what the text of the proposal directly commands governments to do! I guess such subtleties fade compared to the two bald lies in the title alone - it is not "spam" to simplify EU citizens contacting their representatives, and since that "spam" was sent by those citizens themselves, it is not a "one-man" campaign either, but a mass movement.
  • nickslaughter02 1y ago
    > Why not call it: "a proposal to break encryption and enact mass surveillance, claimed to be used to fight CSAM"? That doesn't have the same ring to it to persuade clueless and weak politicians to support anything with the word "child" in it.
  • JoshTriplett 1y ago
    > How did the author decide which part to present as plain fact, and which as mere activist opinion? They have a very obvious bias, and the parts supporting their bias are presented as positive.
    • like_any_other 1y ago
      Oh I'm not objecting to presenting some parts as negative and others as positive. I'm objecting to presenting some parts as uncontested truth, while others as mere "activists say" (especially since what those activists say is simply what is written in the law - there's no room for opinion).
      • JoshTriplett 1y ago
        Absolutely; that is a standard tool of biased writing. See also the "exonerative tense".
• laylower 1y ago
  Joachim - we need more of you.
• throw94i4485 1y ago
  [dead]
• throawayonthe 1y ago
  the article is more-or-less fine, but the headline is ridiculous > one-man ... campaign it's a website that drafts an email for you, and then you send it yourself. it's an organizational tool, yes, but broad involvement is sorta the point > spam campaign gross mischaracterization, citizens sending emails to their govt representative for legitimate purposes - making their political opinion known to the politician - is not spam under any sane definition
  • dang 1y ago
    Ok, we've removed spam from the title above.
  • wkat4242 1y ago
    It's also not a "one-man campaign". The whole point of it is that it enables a duckton of people to campaign against it in an easy way. And much more noticeable than a stupid change.org petition where you're just one of an easily-ignored number on a website.
• Mo3 1y ago
  > A website set up by an unknown Dane Next sentence, > The website was set up by Joachim, a 30-year-old software engineer living in Aalborg, Denmark ? Is this what journalism has come to? On top of calling this a spam campaign?
  • rjh29 1y ago
    Presumably 'unknown' here means 'not famous or well-known', as in "she is a relative unknown".
    • wkat4242 1y ago
      Joachim is a male name at least where I'm from :)
      • rjh29 1y ago
        as in "..." describes an example sentence. I wasn't referring to Joachim :)
        • wkat4242 1y ago
          Oh sorry!
• reginamary32 1y ago
  [dead]
• jopsen 1y ago
  For any Danes out there, you can sign here: https://www.borgerforslag.dk/se-og-stoet-forslag/?Id=FT-21156 https://www.borgerforslag.dk/se-og-stoet-forslag/?Id=FT-2115...
  • koalacongregate 1y ago
    I didn't know about this, thanks for posting it! Signing was very easy (MitID) and I sent it around in my circle as well.
• jopsen 1y ago
  I wrote a personal message. But huge thanks to Joachim for making it easy!
• intended 1y ago
  I love tech and don’t want chat controls. It’s what I just get. The current situation does not work. Chat controls, government controls - are coming. The underbelly of social and chat tech is filled with logic gremlins and impossible objects. They’re just constant metastasizing into monster. And it’s absolutely natural that legal entities get legislated into existence to oppose them. Go sit in a T&S Que. See the absurdity that has to be wrestled into workflows. See how individual voices and requests are reduced to KPIs. Knowledge is power and so on - but knowledge must also be earned. See what reality is for T&S or Ai safety or risk and compliance or what have you. See the rift in reality as ideas, people and tech are mangled together. At the very least you can know the absurdity of the reality we live with.
  • iamnothere 1y ago
    > Chat controls, government controls - are coming. Not if the people continue to fight off each attempt. Looks like we may be winning this round. Each time we win this battle, the opposition becomes better organized/funded and citizens become more aware of what is going on. Each subsequent push will have less chance of success once we pass a key threshold; it seems to me that this may be the last big push, if we win here then the public won’t back future attempts. Then your only option to pass this will be removing democracy altogether.
    • deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    • Braxton1980 1y ago
      I think you are underestimating how paranoid people are about "pedophiles. It's been used by politicians more and more to create a climate of fear so they can justify a more authoritian set up. Because I promise you there are people who would give up a great of deal to solve child sex abuse crimes. They just don't understand the actual risks due to manipulation
  • wkat4242 1y ago
    From where you speak about "T&S Que" I have no idea what you're talking about. You might have a point but I honestly don't follow (I don't even know what T&S is)
• beej71 1y ago
  What service is there that will allow this quantity of outbound email traffic? Asking for a friend.
  • wkat4242 1y ago
    He triggers the individual's own email in each case so it's distributed. Smart way, otherwise it's easily blocked
• dang 1y ago
  The site fightchatcontrol.eu was posted here, though not much discussed per se - like all of these threads, it's pretty generic: Fight Chat Control - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44856426 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44856426 - Aug 2025 (498 comments) (As for Chat Control threads in general, there are too many to list.)
• bix6 1y ago
  Is it possible to do this in the US or do I have to go through each politicians web form?
• oli5679 1y ago
  One interesting anecdote about this bill was that the European Commission allegedly funded digital advertisements promoting it, targeting specific political demographics, which is something that could possibly be prohibited by their own regulations. https://noyb.eu/en/noyb-files-complaint-against-eu-commission-over-targeted-chat-control-ads https://noyb.eu/en/noyb-files-complaint-against-eu-commissio... https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/transparency-and-targeting-of-political-advertising.html https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/transpare...
  • runeks 1y ago
    What the hell? The EU is spending funds, given to it by member states, to further its own interests? This stinks.
    • miohtama 1y ago
      Europol has also used tax payer funds for "research" to lobby for weakening end to end encryption
• xaxaxa123 1y ago
  Politico is so wack, they cant cope with the fact people dont want a surveillance state.
  • mentalgear 1y ago
    Politico is owned by the Fox News of Germany (Springer/Bild).
    • gulfofamerica 1y ago
      I knew Politico was right wing. Better chat control than wrong think.
• Bender 1y ago
  Archive of FightChatControl [1] and Politico article [2] [1] - https://archive.is/jchny https://archive.is/jchny [2] - https://archive.is/0Dqys https://archive.is/0Dqys
• WA 1y ago
  I love it. Especially since: > The campaign has irked some recipients. “In terms of dialog within a democracy, this is not a dialog,” said Lena Düpont, a German member of the European People’s Party group and its home affairs spokesperson, of the mass emails. It is a dialog. Millions are against it, a few (powerful people) in favor. The powerful are too detached from reality and consider this "not a dialog". On a meta level, it even gives them a taste of the millions of messages that‘d get flagged false positively monthly, overwhelming police and other systems.
  • JoshTriplett 1y ago
    Exactly. That's the right dialogue to have about this: repeated "no" combined with as much power and leverage can be brought to bear to get people out of office for trying. Make it a radioactive career-ending move to try.
  • findthewords 1y ago
    Not to accuse the Germans but politicians rarely protest lobbying when it involves bribes.
    • bboygravity 1y ago
      Feel free to accuse the Germans. Russian bribes is basically why they have some of the most expensive energy in the world now. They're surprisingly corrupt for a "developed" "high tech" nation. Search Gerhard Schroder for more info.
      • jacquesm 1y ago
        And Merkel, just as much as Schroeder.
        • kakacik 1y ago
          Merkel was the worst european politician by a lightyear (or two). Maybe growing up in East Germany affected her negatively, don't know but these days she is a huge (and publicly outspoken) putin and russia apologist. Looking at history of her political moves, she was actually the same before, there just wasn't such an obvious war against whole Europe so it all could be labeled as 'low cost gas and oil is good', probably mixed with typical german 'we must atone for the sins of our grandparents' backwhipping. Current russian war in Ukraine is also her doing. Making german military a joke, sending tens if not hundreds of billions euros to russia. She still admits no mistakes at all, despite being very actively hated across whole eastern part of EU. When asked directly about any of this she just goes into her fairy tale mental space not anchored in reality. Overall she did a lot of long term harm. I don't believe she is evil at the core, just severely delusional, easy to manipulate and overall a bad, very bad leader. Wake me up when regular germans realize what rest of EU grokked a decade ago.
• Etheryte 1y ago
  > Joachim himself declined to provide his last name or workplace because his employer does not want to be associated with the campaign. POLITICO has verified his identity. Joachim said his employer has no commercial interest in the legislation, and he alone paid the costs associated with running the website. This type of approach from the journalist always confuses me. Why would his employer matter? What does that have to do with anything?
  • standardUser 1y ago
    Even before journalism was under a sustained assault from the right, clarifying potential conflicts of interest was fairly standard practice. Now, I see journalists more frequently bending over backwards to (futilely) preempt criticism.
    • heisenbit 1y ago
      I'm ususally not for both sides but in this case it would have been fair if the Politico Author had contrasted that with the ownership background of his own employer.
    • hunterpayne 1y ago
      You read the article right? Would you say that it was written in an unbiased manor? Let's be honest, it was a poorly written piece of propaganda masquerading as journalism. Criticizing that isn't a "sustained assault". Its also quite clear that the left is no longer liberal in any way. Because liberals would oppose this type of censorship
      • standardUser 1y ago
        Writing from a point of view only further necessitates due diligence, assuming the author wants to be convincing. The alternative would be ultra-dry, wire-style reporting, That does exist because there's some demand from the left and center for that kind of journalism. Though I see little demand on the rights for just-the-facts reporting.
• JohnMakin 1y ago
  Can we do something similar in the US?
• rahimnathwani 1y ago
  I love the idea of making tools to make it easy for people to email their representatives, from their own mailboxes. Here's one I vibe coded for a specific purpose: https://crocker.vercel.app/ https://crocker.vercel.app/ After I made it, I came across something similar on another web site, but with some cool additional features: - support for multiple 'campaigns' - per-campaign questions (with drop down responses) - AI to customize the email and subject, instead of just filling in a template
• HackerThemAll 1y ago
  How will the bill stop organized pedophile operations which certainly use specialized covert technologies, websites, messengers, sharing platforms unavailable in official app stores? Anyone thinking it's going to improve detection of such stuff is an idiot.
  • Oarch 1y ago
    I'm sure these politicians are doing all they can to pressure the US into releasing the Epstein list. Since they seem to care so much /s
• avhception 1y ago
  Ah, nice. This actually helps me to feel less impotent about the issue. It feels like the umpteenth attempt, the politicians are starting to wear me down. But now I've taken the time to send mails and at least feel like I have done _something_. See you next time, I guess! @ Politicians
• sib 1y ago
  >> this is not a dialog "I do not think that word means what [she] thinks it means"
• blitz_skull 1y ago
  I love how we’re wringing our hands about the technological side of this fight. If every time we found someone with CSAM on their hard drive, we swung them from a tree—folks would think twice before engaging in the production and distribution of CSAM. We don’t need to break encryption. We need real, permanent, consequences that fit the crime.
• fennecbutt 1y ago
  I just hate how even in that article, they can put the phrase "those trying to pass a European bill aimed at stopping child sexual abuse material from spreading online." and to most regular people, it makes this dude sound like a bad guy. I mean why would he want to stop that?!?! It's sad how complex us humans think we are when our behaviours boil down to fairly predictable animal and tribal responses. And what I love about the general suffix above is that you can pop it on anything to make someone oppose to it sound bad: "those trying to implement mandatory home camera systems aimed at stopping child sexual abuse material from happening."
  • HexPhantom 1y ago
    Encryption, being abstract and technical, doesn't trigger the same gut reaction, so lawmakers get away with eroding it bit by bit
• __bjoernd 1y ago
  If they can put Twitter links into their article, one would think they can also add links to the website they're writing about. Thanks OP for adding it here!
• wkat4242 1y ago
  > Peter Hummelgaard, Danish Minister of Justice: "I indisputably believe that surveillance creates an increased sense of security ... Yeah I feel so safe with hundreds of unknown people constantly looking over my shoulder /s
  • heisenbit 1y ago
    Politicians often derive a real sense of security from surveilance (of others) and quite possibly it may improve their actual security just look at Putin and Co.. If one looks at a broader picture and uses a longer term perspective chilling speech is not helping security at all but is extremely destructive.
• basket_horse 1y ago
  > Elon Musk's X said Monday that the bill could enable "government instituted mass surveillance" Do they have to mention that Elon Musk owns X every time they mention a post? I don't see how Elon owning X has anything to do with the content of a random X post.
  • dragonwriter 1y ago
    Its not a random X post, its a corporate statement by X (which also happens to be in the form of a post on X, but that’s not the focus.)
• LeroyRaz 1y ago
  Chat Control seems unabashedly evil.
• zepolen 1y ago
  > EU politicians exempt themselves from this surveillance under "professional secrecy" rules This right here is the problem, a good leader leads by example, not exemption.
• deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
• zenmac 1y ago
  >But Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard, one of the loudest proponents of tough measures to get child abuse material off online platforms, said in a statement that his proposal is far more balanced than the Commission’s original version and would mean that scanning would only happen as a last resort. That is the whole problem isn't it? Should government be able to scan your personal data without your permission to fight crime? If people want to get child abuse material off online platforms, then there are other things that needs to be dealt with than installing back doors for government to scan your personal files. This comment is just seems like some kind of hand weaving of excuse on the politician side to create infrastructure of massive surveillance state.
• isodev 1y ago
  Politico is being overly dramatic as usual. While of course we’re grateful to the person who setup the website, this isn’t the first time a campaign against a piece of policy has included a website. Politico makes it sounds like it’s a fight between the little man and the “big parliament” but emailing your MEPs (the ones you elect every couple of years) has always been an effective way to signal your views. And yes, for bigger issues there have been websites and flyer actions to remind people to voice their views. It’s democracy and absolutely a form of debate. Also, I think Politico should absolutely review how they try to protect the identity of people they’re writing about because naming the guy and providing so much information in this day and age is just plain doxing.
• frm88 1y ago
  There is a last minute petition from Chatkontrolle stoppen (German) which you can sign here: https://weact.campact.de/petitions/chatkontrolle-stoppen?sou https://weact.campact.de/petitions/chatkontrolle-stoppen?sou... 318K signatures at the time of this posting, which means it gathered ~90K since yesterday. Please consider signing.
  • xinayder 1y ago
    We should have an European Citizens Initiative petition to have this bill shutdown once and for all, so that the EP actually gets to discuss and act on it.
    • frm88 1y ago
      I agree but couldn't find information on how to do this on the EU websites; they are such a confusing mess. That said, if you can point me to a how-to I'll gladly initiate it.
      • munksbeer 1y ago
        I don't have time right now but I assume you found this already? https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/how-it-works_en https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/how-it-works_en I signed an EU citizens initiative to keep EU citizenship for British citizens after brexit. I knew it was doomed to fail, as it made no real sense, but it wasn't a bother so I signed it anyway.
        • frm88 1y ago
          Thank you for that link - I actually didn't find it. In my defense, I was at the dentist's and in a lot of pain, so no Google-fu left. The preconditions are: 1. find at least 7 people who sign up for running this campaign with me 2. Plan and document how I want to run this campaign. This will require some planning. I can get to it by the end of next week.
• prawn 1y ago
  Worth looking at the website even if you're not in the EU or especially interested in privacy matters. It's well-designed and has a decent user flow for picking who to contact or omit.
• teekert 1y ago
  I used the service and got 3 emails back, they were probably as ready-made as the one I sent, but still nice. The reply's were all from politicians from my country why are against ChatControl.
• HexPhantom 1y ago
  Politicians love pretending there's no public opposition until the emails flood in and make it impossible to ignore
  • 11mariom 1y ago
    In my country then they say it was "massive hate speech"…
    • chopin 1y ago
      Germany by any chance?
• WhereIsTheTruth 1y ago
  It's funny reading Americans being opposed to it, specially when their NSA can already do it But that's not the point, if you want a society that's empowered by digital services, you need it to be safe and secure, 'chat control' (what a stupid name) is required
• dusted 1y ago
  The article is written in an extremely manipulating way, the following phrase will trigger the intended knee-jerk reaction in anyone reading this who is not already pretty familiar with the actual content of the proposal and its implications. > "The website, called Fight Chat Control, was set up by Joachim, a 30-year-old software engineer living in Aalborg, Denmark. He made it after learning of a new attempt to approve a European Union proposal to fight child sexual abuse material (CSAM)" Now that the casual reader has already drawn a conclusion, they're also primed to dismiss the group referenced in the next sentence as as outliers and crazies (probably with hidden motives regarding CSAM): > — a bill seen by privacy activists as breaking encryption and leading to mass surveillance. So yeah, thanks to Joachim for making this. Of course, it won't actually work, these people don't give a damn about the children, they just want total control, and surveillance and there's no lower bounds for what they will argue to achieve it.
  • alex_duf 1y ago
    Also the responsibility is put on one person. That's bonkers, the emails aren't sending themselves.
  • miohtama 1y ago
    The piece is likely a hired job by someone close to the EU commission. Of course not paid directly, but paid in favours inside the EU. It's unlikely the author is impartial.
  • thrance 1y ago
    That's how it always work. You're against the genocide in Gaza? "Activists think Israel doesn't have a right to exist". You don't like ICE abducting people on the street? "Activists think we shouldn't punish crime". Etc. etc. On and on it goes, this incessant ballet of "moderate" media kissing power's boot, painting the most ungenerous portrait possible out of the people who actually care about bettering the world. And when the wind turns, they'll quickly sweep these articles under the rug and pretend they were always on the right side of history, defending democracy and freedom on the front line.
• xlii 1y ago
  I'm not as fiercy minded as Joachim, but this article is manipulative as hell: - "spam campaign" - "trying to pass a European bill aimed at stopping CSAM" - "a bill _seen by privacy activists_ as breaking encryption and leading to mass surveillance" (emphasis mine). The journalism at its worst. I don't think I ever click on anything politico.eu related.
  • ExoticPearTree 1y ago
    > The journalism at its worst. It's propaganda under the guise of journalism.
• dsign 1y ago
  If CSAM through social/communication platforms were the actual problem society wanted to address, it could simply make illegal for kids to use those platforms but put the onus of enforcement on parents and schools, and impose fines on any parents/school who allow their kids to participate on anything online--chat, games, social media, forums, and even SMS and phone calls. Of course, that's super-draconian, but way less so than installing mass surveillance.
• skibid1 1y ago
  [flagged]
  • miohtama 1y ago
    That's the UK
• mseri 1y ago
  I just want to say thanks to him! And very poor article by Politico
• thomastraum 1y ago
  I used it ! and what a hero!! thank you thank you thank you!
• tadasZ 1y ago
  it is like the article was written by the one who thought about chat control, the site is not against banning predators online! it's against massive surveillance.
• melicerte 1y ago
  On a side note, am I the only to find the CSAM acronym to be very unfortunate choice?
• abustamam 1y ago
  > a European bill aimed at stopping child sexual abuse material from spreading online. I really dislike this framing of the bill. It makes it seem like anyone crusading against the bill is against stopping the spread of CSAM, which is presumably the aim of the lawmakers who drafted this bill. But Politico played right into their hands.