What is “Chat Control” (CSAR) and Why is Everyone Talking About It?
In 2022, the European Commission introduced a draft law called CSAR – Child Sexual Abuse Regulation, which is widely known as “Chat Control.”
The official aim is to combat the spread of child sexual abuse material. While the intention is understandable and important, the way it is designed has raised serious concerns.
Under the proposal, digital services – such as e-mail, messaging apps, or cloud storage – would be required to automatically scan users’ private messages and compare them against databases of known harmful content.
How Would It Work in Practice?
- Client-side scanning – message content would be scanned on the sender’s device before it is encrypted.
- General obligation – companies would have to implement technology capable of detecting not only known illegal content but also “suspicious patterns.”
- Privacy risk – this would break the principle of end-to-end encryption, which today protects users from surveillance.
Criticism and Risks of the Proposal
The proposal has sparked opposition from security experts, lawyers, and civil rights organizations:
- Mass surveillance – every user would be treated as a potential suspect.
- Undermining encryption – mandatory scanning would weaken security and open the door to further misuse.
- Legal concerns – according to lawyers, the proposal may violate the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, especially the right to privacy.
Risks for Businesses and Ordinary Users
1. Business communication and corporate e-mail
Chat Control would not only affect private messages but also services used by companies. Mandatory scanning would mean that sensitive corporate know-how (technical plans, contracts, strategies) would pass through a system that stores and analyzes communications.
Every such system is a potential weak point. If hacked, it could lead to leaks of trade secrets or internal business information.
2. Possibility of state misuse
If governments had access to these systems, it could enable:
- monitoring of economic activity,
- surveillance of corporate communications,
- or even interference in market competition.
3. Risks for ordinary people
The same danger applies to individuals. If the scanning system were hacked, personal e-mails, photos, or sensitive documents could leak. Whether it’s family matters, medical records, or financial information – the impact on an ordinary person’s privacy could be enormous.
How to Resist (Legally)
- Civic pressure – contact your Members of the European Parliament and express opposition.
- Support initiatives – join campaigns defending privacy rights (e.g., Fight Chat Control, EDRi).
- Legal path – even if adopted, the regulation would likely be challenged in the EU Court of Justice.
- Choice of services – use applications and technologies that respect your data and remain transparent.
How to Legally Protect Your Privacy
The legal way to protect your communication is to use secure apps and open technologies:
- Signal – encrypted messaging with a strong focus on privacy.
- Matrix – decentralized network, with the option to run your own server.
- Threema – a paid app with a strong emphasis on anonymity.
- PGP e-mail – a standard for encrypted e-mail that works with common clients.
All of these are legal to use and do not break any law. The only risk is that, if the proposal passes, some of them may no longer be officially available in the EU (for example, in app stores).
“Chat Control” is a proposal with a good goal – protecting children – but the chosen method poses serious risks to privacy, security, and business.
If the scanning system failed or were hacked, it could result in trade secrets leaking from companies and personal data from ordinary people being exposed. In addition, it would set a dangerous precedent: governments could monitor the private communications of all citizens.
That’s why it makes sense to:
- follow developments,
- stay informed,
- and use secure applications that respect the freedom of communication.
Privacy is not a crime – it is a fundamental right worth protecting.
Is There a Better Way to Protect Children?
Yes. Instead of undermining the privacy of all people, it makes more sense to focus directly on the environment children use.
- Special environments for minors – operating systems could provide a child mode, where apps rated 16+ or 18+ cannot be installed.
- Ban on selling fully featured smartphones to minors under a certain age – just like alcohol or tobacco, restrictions could apply to when a child can use a full smartphone.
- Supervision in child mode – if state oversight were ever required, it would apply only to children’s accounts and devices, not adult communications.
Advantages of this approach:
- Protection focuses on children, not all citizens.
- Adults keep their right to private, secure communication.
- Technically easier to create a “child environment” than to scan billions of messages.
The goal – protecting children – is right and important. But achieving it through mass surveillance of all communication is dangerous and unfair.
A better path is to create safe environments directly for children while allowing adults to keep their right to privacy.
That way, we can protect what matters most – children and the freedom of society as a whole.