DFC Cybersecurity 2025 watch out - a topic for you! Unbelievable what the EU Commission is planning: Everyone is under suspicion, almost all data is being checked by private companies…
1. Introduction: Security at any cost?
Currently, Uptime IT is holding an emergency meeting. The EU Commission’s plans for chat control (CSA Regulation) undermine the data sovereignty of companies and individuals. Moreover, they open the gates of hell to a surveillance state and strip us of our fundamental freedoms and human rights.
What’s it all about? The EU is pursuing plans for automated chat scans (even without suspicion) and for hosting services to combat child abuse/child pornography.
While combating child abuse is a laudable goal, the proposed implementation leads to mass surveillance of everyone. Service providers, chat services, cloud storage, hosting providers and the like are to be obligated to check data and report “hits” to government agencies. Web addresses that do not meet the algorithm’s approval are to be excluded from search results or made inaccessible.
The planned measures undermine fundamental rights, create security vulnerabilities and lead to an infrastructure that—once established—can be used for the merciless surveillance of every EU citizen as soon as the right forces are in power.
This surveillance is to be carried out by private companies, at any time and without cause. AI systems analyze and voice suspicions, which law enforcement authorities then pursue. The machine decides what people do. Livelihoods are destroyed because the AI was wrong. Legal recourse against this? Almost impossible.
The EU Commission must be aware of the dangers of this plan and the fact that any European court would strike down a regulation if government agencies themselves carried out the surveillance. That’s why it has chosen to outsource the surveillance to private companies.
While open-source alternatives can reduce surveillance, what does that mean? Organized crime will immediately use these alternatives, and the restriction of citizens’ rights remains for everyone: without any judicial order, without oversight, every second of the day, and with no benefit for the original noble goal of child protection.
Urgent: Contact your Members of the European Parliament and Bundestag and express your concerns about these plans!
2. Freedom & Democracy: The Price of Surveillance
Hundreds of legal scholars, lawyers, IT experts, data protection officers, journalists and intellectuals have raised numerous rule-of-law concerns against the EU’s plans.
Key points include:
- · Violation of Articles 7 and 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (privacy, data protection).
- · Article 10 of the Basic Law (The secrecy of letters as well as the secrecy of posts and telecommunications shall be inviolable.)
- · No judicial review: Algorithms decide on “suspicion” – arbitrariness is wide open.
- · Risk to democracy: State control over communication erodes trust in the state itself.
- · IT security: Once the system is hacked, state and criminal hackers gain access to almost all of citizens’ private information.
- · General suspicion against everyone.
Practical consequences:
- · Self-censorship: People avoid sensitive topics in communication. An effect Germany last experienced under Nazi rule and which can currently also be observed in Russia, China and, since recently, in the USA.
- · Censorship infrastructure: Once built, it can be misused (cf. Hungary’s “Sovereignty Act”, which is criticised by the EU Commission).
- 3. Technical consequences: Why closed source becomes dangerous
Problems with proprietary software:
Even though Microsoft has not yet clearly stated its position on the planned CSA Regulation, a willingness to cooperate with governments has been observed repeatedly. And Microsoft’s privacy statement already allows customer data to be examined to counter illegal activities.
Therefore, it must be assumed that, if the planned chat control is implemented, Uptime IT will remove Microsoft products such as Windows, Exchange, Outlook and Office to continue to honour the sovereignty promise made to customers.
This also affects the Threema Messenger, which has so far been considered secure. It would then need to be replaced with a messenger based on the Element stack.
If the EU decides not to install active software but instead to demand a “backdoor” for data access, this would entail significant security risks. Weakening end-to-end encryption would affect all users.
Open source as a solution:
Technologically, solutions in the open-source sector that preserve data sovereignty can likely always be found. Currently, and without claiming to be exhaustive, the following alternatives can be presented:
Area
Proprietary (risk)
Open-source alternative
Messenger
WhatsApp, Teams
Element
Operating system
Windows, macOS
Linux
Office tools
MS Office, Outlook
LibreOffice
Cloud
OneDrive, Google Drive
Nextcloud (hosted by Uptime IT or self-hosted)
Why is this better? The transparency, because the code is public and there can be no hidden scans. And decentralizing the solutions removes installations from state access.
4. The surveillance state: Where does this lead?
But can this really be the solution? The beginning of a cat-and-mouse "game" between the state and citizens?
We can learn from history. Once a precedent is set, usage and surveillance are steadily expanded (cf. telecommunications surveillance in Germany is now even possible for petty criminals).
Economic damage: EU companies lose trust.
There are parallels: China's "Social Credit System" also began with "harmless" scans.
5. What to do? Politics & Practice
a) Political
- Pressure on the EU Parliament: Support for the #NoChatControl campaign, use contact with MEPs
- Demand: Targeted investigations instead of mass surveillance (as with Europol).
b) Technical
- Switch to open source (step-by-step guide for laypeople). Uptime IT will take this path even more strongly than before. MS SQL will soon be replaced, with further products to follow.
- Matrix servers for corporate communication.
6. Conclusion: A turning point for Europe
Warning: Chat control is a Trojan horse – today "child protection", tomorrow censorship.
Opportunity: Instead, Europe could become a pioneer of digital freedom – as a strong economic bloc with strong data protection laws and open-source promotion.
Crime prevention does not succeed through general suspicion against everyone and mass surveillance.
Further information:
For example, from the renowned criminal lawyer Konstantin Grubwinkler https://youtube.com/watch?v=2OyCmMepCoU&si=VoPlvOyzEshpZgOt
Very easy to understand.