We're back... and so is Chat Control 😅
It just doesn't stop, does it?
The European Union has reintroduced Chat Control legislation in the form of the Child Sexual Abuse Regulation (CSAR), despite the European human rights court being on the record saying that degrading End-to-End Encryption is illegal and "cannot be regarded as necessary in a democratic society."
Make no mistake, despite the name, CSAR will not protect any children. In fact, it will place more children at risk, while eroding the safeguards necessary to keep the internet secure and private.
We're talking a lot about this now, because there is a deadline coming up. Countries are expected to finalize their positions on whether they support dismantling the internet's security this Friday, so if you are in the EU time is running out to contact your representatives and make sure they know this is unacceptable, especially if your country is poised to support the bill.
Our wonderful staff writer Em published great coverage of this issue earlier this week, outlining what to do if you're an EU resident, and how Chat Control will impact everybody, whether you're in the EU or not:
Em
If you didn't get a chance, take a moment to read it. In the meantime, I'm going to pass this newsletter over to Kevin to share with you some of the other interesting stuff happening in the privacy community we think you should keep an eye on.
Stay private!
Jonah
This Week in Privacy #17
Jordan Warne
Last Friday, we launched the 17th episode of This Week in Privacy with the latest privacy and security developments across the world.
If you joined us, you may have noticed a new face co-hosting the podcast with Jordan. Our Community & News Intern, Kevin (me!), will regularly take over from Jonah from time to time. While we have encountered some technical difficulties with the audio, the problem has been resolved. Thank you for bearing with us through this issue.
If you haven't watched this episode yet, here are the headlines we covered:
Before we get into those sources though: Human rights like the right to privacy are constantly under attack. We're doing the best we can to spread awareness about this issue, but we need your help. If you've benefited from our guides and programs in any way, consider passing that forward today by sending us a few dollars to support our continued work.
- Proton Meet has quietly launched for Proton Lifetime, Business, and Visionary users in closed beta testing. As a browser video conferencing software based on the open-source Livekit framework, Proton Meet has potential to shake up this space. However, we share concerns over whether Proton is expanding its product ecosystem too quickly.
- Google avoids getting broken up in their anti-trust case but must share search data with competitors. Despite holding an illegal monopoly over search engines and browsers, Google has somehow avoided a total breakup by the United States Department of Justice. Ironically, the biggest winners from this decision might be LLM-centered browsers developed by OpenAI and Perplexity – not Brave and DuckDuckGo.
- Switzerland launches Apertus – an entirely new LLM centered around ethical training data, privacy, and security. While personal testing revealed that Apertus has not reached the same feature parity with mainstream alternatives like ChatGPT and Claude, Apertus is supposedly trained with opt-out signals in mind. We discuss whether private LLMs like Apertus can be "ethical" in the first place.
- Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro claims that Huawei Phones are unhackable, especially by "American spy planes" and "satellites". Willful ignorance aside, President Maduro is not entirely wrong about this. As a regular, non-government consumer, you should never listen to his digital security advice though. Please do not buy a Huawei phone. I beg you.
“We [Don't] Care About Your Privacy”
Em
Confused about the constant mention of privacy in marketing campaigns? What does it mean when a company mentions a flashy term like "military-grade encryption" on their advertisements?
Our staff writer, Em, has written an amazing article on "privacy washing" and how it can harm real people out there trying to find solutions that work for them.
Don't fall for the trap. Make sure to do your research before committing to a product or service.
If you have questions, reach out to our community forum and ask them there! There are folks always willing to help out.
Confidentially yours,
Kevin
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