The EU is Destroying Privacy
The EU just approved a negotiating mandate for Chat Control - mass scanning of encrypted communications. Articles 1 and 7 explicitly exempt police, military, intelligence, and EU officials from the scanning. Your messages get monitored. Theirs stay private.
Sixty percent of child abuse material worldwide is hosted on EU servers. The Netherlands hosts 41% alone. Germany saw hosting increase 150% in one year. German police leave known illegal content online for years claiming they lack resources. They can't take down content on their own servers but they have resources to scan billions of messages daily.
Parliament voted 483-92 for mandatory digital ID. The age verification system requires re-identification every 90 days using single-use tokens. Italy and France made Google Play Integrity mandatory, excluding everyone on GrapheneOS or degoogled phones. The same EU that passed the Digital Markets Act against Google now mandates Google dependency.
Germany convicted a politician for posting official crime statistics. 50 coordinated police raids targeted people for online speech. France is prosecuting VPN and ProtonMail usage as evidence of criminal intent. An EU expert group named VPNs as "key challenges." Spain wants to ban encryption entirely.
The UK arrests 30+ people per day for online speech. Now they're removing jury trials for 90% of eligible defendants.
Remix News – Hamburg group assault case, woman jailed for insult – https://rmx.news/article/outrage-in-germany-after-woman-convicted-for-insulting-migrant-gang-rapists-and-hit-with-longer-jail-term-than-the-rapists/
TechRadar – Chat Control negotiating mandate – https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/chat-control-eu-lawmakers-finally-agree-on-the-voluntary-scanning-of-your-private-chats
Patrick Breyer – “Voluntary” scanning creates mandatory compliance pressure – https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/reality-check-eu-council-chat-control-vote-is-not-a-retreat-but-a-green-light-for-indiscriminate-mass-surveillance-and-the-end-of-right-to-communicate-anonymously/
Internet Watch Foundation – 60% CSAM hosted on EU servers – https://www.iwf.org.uk/news-media/news/europe-remains-global-hub-for-hosting-of-online-child-sexual-abuse-material/
TU Delft – Netherlands hosts 41% of CSAM URLs globally – https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/binaries/rijksoverheid/documenten/rapporten/2023/07/07/tk-bijlage-csam-hosting-monitor-final-report-mar-2023/tk-bijlage-csam-hosting-monitor-final-report-mar-2023.pdf
Euronews – Germany 150% increase in CSAM hosting – https://www.euronews.com/next/2024/04/23/german-internet-domain-used-by-criminal-groups-in-worst-year-for-online-child-sexual-abuse
TechPolicy.Press – German police lack resources for takedowns – https://www.techpolicy.press/moving-past-chat-control-to-solutions-that-truly-protect-kids-and-privacy/
Patrick Breyer – Articles 1 and 7 exempt officials – https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/leak-eu-interior-ministers-want-to-exempt-themselves-from-chat-control-bulk-scanning-of-private-messages/
Privacy International – CJEU ruled mass surveillance violates fundamental rights – https://privacyinternational.org/long-read/4206/qa-eus-top-court-rules-uk-french-and-belgian-mass-surveillance-regimes-must-respect
CDT – ECHR ruled encryption backdoors violate right to private life – https://cdt.org/insights/the-european-court-of-human-rights-concludes-encryption-backdoor-mandates-violate-the-right-to-private-life-of-all-users-online/
European Commission – Digital Omnibus Package – https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2718
noyb – Digital Omnibus guts GDPR – https://noyb.eu/en/digital-omnibus-eu-commission-wants-wreck-core-gdpr-principles
noyb – 127 organizations opposed Digital Omnibus – https://noyb.eu/en/open-letter-digital-omnibus-brings-deregulation-not-simplification
Cointelegraph – Privacy coins banned by July 2027 – https://cointelegraph.com/news/eu-crypto-ban-anonymous-privacy-tokens-2027
European Commission – eIDAS digital identity regulation – https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/eudi-regulation
Reclaim The Net – Parliament voted 483–92 for mandatory digital ID – https://reclaimthenet.org/eu-parliament-votes-for-mandatory-digital-id-and-age-verification-threatening-online-privacy
EU Age Verification Spec – 30 single-use tokens – https://ageverification.dev/av-doc-technical-specification/docs/architecture-and-technical-specifications/
EU Age Verification Spec – Re-identification required every 90 days – https://ageverification.dev/Technical%20Specification/architecture-and-technical-specifications/
GitHub Issue #287 – Google Play Integrity mandatory – https://github.com/eu-digital-identity-wallet/eudi-app-android-wallet-ui/issues/287
GitHub Issue #575 – 350+ messages ignored, alternate Android excluded – https://github.com/eu-digital-identity-wallet/eudi-doc-architecture-and-reference-framework/issues/575
Remix News – Marie-Thérèse Kaiser convicted for posting official statistics – https://rmx.news/article/germany-young-afd-politician-convicted-for-publishing-gang-rape-statistics-in-connection-with-afghan-migration/
OpIndia – 50 coordinated German police raids for online speech – https://www.opindia.com/2025/02/germany-raids-citizens-for-online-speech-while-lecturing-india-on-press-freedom/
Persuasion – UK arrests 30+ per day, 12,000 annually for online speech – https://www.persuasion.community/p/europe-really-is-jailing-people-for
Legal Cheek – UK jury trials to be axed for 90% of defendants – https://www.legalcheek.com/2025/11/jury-trials-set-to-be-axed-for-most-crimes-under-major-shake-up/
Statista – UK conviction rates magistrates vs crown court – https://www.statista.com/statistics/1100769/conviction-rate-in-england-and-wales/
EDRi – France prosecuting VPN/ProtonMail/Tor use as criminal intent – https://edri.org/our-work/encryption-protects-our-rights-privacy-is-not-a-crime/
TechRadar – EU expert group names VPNs as “key challenges” – https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/vpn-services-may-soon-become-a-new-target-of-eu-lawmakers-after-being-deemed-a-key-challenge
TechCrunch – Spain wants to ban end-to-end encryption – https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/11/eu-csam-detection-plan/
Patrick Breyer – 500+ scientists warned of function creep – https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/danger-to-democracy-500-top-scientists-urge-eu-governments-to-reject-technically-infeasible-chat-control/
UnHerd – 80% public opposition ignored – https://unherd.com/2025/11/europes-new-war-on-privacy/
