EU plan to read all your private messages and photos

New plans being drawn up by the European Union could see all your private messages and photos scanned by the government.

Following on from the UK's Online Safety Bill, which has blocked access to various adult sites, social media networks and even Xbox online services for those who don't have valid ID, the EU is working on new regulations called Chat Control according to a memo leaked earlier this month.

A total of 19 member states now support the plan, including France, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Belgium. According to online surveillance campaigners, the plans are being put in place to tackle child abuse images but there are concerns about the erosion of privacy.

The plan would make it mandatory that messaging platforms including WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram must scan every message, photo and video sent by users starting in October, even if end-to-end encryption is in place.

According to technology website TechRadar: "First proposed in May 2022, what critics deemed Chat Control aims to halt the spread of CSAM content online by scanning all communications, especially encrypted ones.

"Over the years, however, the proposal has seen some twists and turns as privacy advocates, technologists, and even politicians raised concerns.

"Experts are especially worried that these new scanning obligations will end up undermining encryption protections. A crucial security feature that the likes of WhatsApp, Signal, and Proton Mail use to scramble users' online communications into an unreadable form and prevent unauthorized access."

While the law is targeted at EU citizens, of which the UK is no longer a member, concerns have been raised about damage to security and privacy for people worldwide.

Analysis of a previous version of legislation for messaging surveillance in the EU, released by the European Digital Rights group, says client side scanning, which is still part of the new proposals, puts all users at a privacy risk. They said: "Whilst the European Commission claims that Detection Orders are targeted, the draft CSAR allows for detection at a very large scale. For encrypted messages, it is impossible to target such measures, as by definition any interference with encryption will impact all users of that service - not just in the EU, but for anyone using that service globally.

"Experts warn that that CSS (client-side scanning) is not secure, does not comply with human rights, and creates back-doors into every person's digital devices - including those of children, making them more vulnerable to criminal networks."

Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Slovenia, Luxembourg and Romania currently remain undecided or in need of a review with their local parliament.

Member states' governments need to finalise their evaluations by September 12 and then the bill will be decided on October 14.

It comes after more than 500,000 people signed a petition to repeal the UK's Online Safety Act, which became law in July and immediately caused a spike in VPN downloads from people trying to avoid the age gates.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have proposed a blanket social media ban for under-16s.

Pressing for action to prevent under-16s accessing social media, Tory former education minister Lord Nash said: "We are now seeing an overwhelming body of clinical evidence about the dangers of social media for children and young people, and a rapidly increasing awareness about this among parents, teachers, and children and young people themselves."

He added: "We want our children to be brought up confident, able to engage in deep thought, be reflective, able to concentrate, able to exercise judgment and see the other side's point of view, be compassionate and so on. We also want them to get a good night's sleep. Smartphones and social media set up exactly the opposite behaviours."