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   Europes digital sovereignty at stake  Europe's privacy-first tech unites   
   against Chat Control   
      
   Date:   
   Tue, 07 Oct 2025 13:36:46 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   A week ahead of a crucial meeting, over 40 firms are urging lawmakers that   
   digital sovereignty cannot be achieved if Europe undermines the security and   
   integrity of its businesses.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   The European Union needs to protect privacy, trust, and encryption if it    
   wants to safeguard the future of the bloc's digital sovereignty and lead in   
   the global digital economy.    
      
   This is the warning coming from Europe's privacy-first tech sector, which is   
   urging lawmakers to reject the controversial Child Sexual Abuse Regulation   
   (CSAR) bill.    
      
   Over 40 companies have signed an open letter today, October 7, a week ahead    
   of a crucial meeting set for October 14. Signatories include some of the best   
   VPN and encrypted messaging services, such as Proton, NordVPN , Tuta , and   
   Element .    
      
   Nicknamed Chat Control, the initiative seeks to introduce an obligation for   
   all messaging apps operating in Europe to scan all URLs, pictures, and videos   
   shared by their users in the lookout for child sexual abuse material (CSAM).   
   The latest iteration of the proposal, which the Danish Presidency put forward   
   last July, has never been closer to reaching an agreement .    
      
   Crucially, this mandatory scanning is expected to occur directly on the    
   device and, in the case of encrypted apps, before messages are encrypted. A   
   requirement that, according to experts, clashes with how encryption works and   
   could ultimately lead to weakened security for all.   
      
   Europe's digital economy at stake   
      
   The risk of breaking encryption has been the primary objection to the    
   proposal since the beginning.    
      
    Encryption is responsible for keeping communications private and secure by   
   scrambling the content of users' messages into an unreadable form and   
   preventing unauthorized access.    
      
   In the face of a rise in cyberattacks, worldwide authorities have been   
   increasingly recognizing the importance of this technology. In the open    
   letter to the EU, experts explain that measures such as the Cyber Resilience   
   Act and the Cybersecurity Act stress the importance of encryption as    
   essential to Europe's future.    
      
   "It is incoherent for Europe to invest in cybersecurity with one hand, while   
   legislating against it with the other," reads the open letter . "To lead in   
   the global digital economy, the EU must protect privacy, trust, and   
   encryption."   
      
   European tech companies are especially worried about the future of the bloc's   
   digital sovereignty, which they believe is essential to guaranteeing Europe's   
   independence from US and Chinese tech giants, as well as strong national   
   security.    
      
   Technologists, cryptographers, and digital rights campaigners have long    
   argued that this client-side scanning would create a backdoor into secure   
   communications that hostile government or other malicious actors would also    
   be able to exploit.    
      
   That's exactly the reason why the Danish proposal exempts all government and   
   military accounts from mandatory CSAM scanning. An exemption that the   
   signatories believe is not enough to protect national security.    
      
   They said: "A lot of sensitive information from businesses, politicians, and   
   citizens will be at risk should the CSA Regulation move forward. It will   
   weaken Europes ability to protect its critical infrastructure, its companies,   
   and its people."    
      
   This is why businesses joined forces to urge lawmakers to reject any measure   
   "that would force the implementation of client-side scanning, backdoors, or   
   mass surveillance of private communications," in favor of proportionate child   
   protection measures.   
      
   Decisive moments    
      
   With only a few days left ahead of the next crucial meeting, Germany    
   continues to leave Chat Control's critics worried.    
      
   The country is considered a decisive vote. Yet, the government has recently   
   shifted positions , passing from the opposition to the undecided list again,   
   according to the latest data .    
      
   Now, according to Patrick Breyer , former MEP for the German Pirate Party and   
   digital rights jurist, the CSU-led Federal Ministry of the Interior is   
   attempting to force the German Federal Ministry of Justice (SPD) to approve   
   the controversial EU chat control by today (October 7).    
      
   Germany-based encrypted email service, Tuta, has confirmed to TechRadar that   
   German ministers (interior and justice) are meeting today to finalize the   
   country's position as the Ministry of Interior is trying to convince Justice   
   to agree to Chat Control.    
      
   "The digital outcry about this is pretty loud in Germany right now, adding    
   the SME open letter, we could actually have a chance that Germany stands firm   
   with its pro-privacy position that it had in the past," Tuta told TechRadar.    
      
   This also adds to the pledge coming from Meredith Whittaker , President of    
   the non-profit Signal Foundation, urging all German citizens to "let German   
   politicians know how harmful, counterproductive, and self-sabotaging their   
   reversal would be."   
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/europes-digital-sovereignty   
   -at-stake-europes-privacy-first-tech-unites-against-chat-control   
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