Contrary to headlines suggesting the EU has “backed away” from Chat Control, the negotiating mandate endorsed today by EU ambassadors in a close split vote paves the way for a permanent infrastructure of mass surveillance. Patrick Breyer, digital freedom fighter and expert on the file, warns journalists and the public not to be deceived by the label “voluntary.” While the Council removed the _obligation_ for scanning, the agreed text creates a toxic legal framework that incentivizes US tech giants to scan private communications indiscriminately, introduces mandatory age checks for all internet users, and threatens to exclude teenagers from digital life. **“The headlines are misleading: Chat Control is not dead, it is just being privatized,”** warns Patrick Breyer. **“What the Council endorsed today is a Trojan Horse. By cementing ‘voluntary’ mass scanning, they are legitimizing the warrantless, error-prone mass surveillance of millions of Europeans by US corporations, while simultaneously killing online anonymity through the backdoor of age verification.”** ## **The Three Hidden Dangers of the Council’s “Voluntary” Deal** The Council’s mandate stands in sharp contrast to the European Parliament’s position, which demands that surveillance be targeted only at suspects and age checks are to remain voluntary. The Council’s approach introduces three critical threats that have largely gone unreported: **1. “Voluntary” Means Indiscriminate Mass Scanning (The Chat Control 1.0 Trap)** The text aims to make the temporary “Chat Control 1.0” regulation permanent. This allows providers like Meta or Google to scan **all** private chats, indiscriminately and without a court order. * **The Reality:** This is not just about finding known illegal images. The mandate allows for the scanning of **private text messages, unknown images, and metadata** using unreliable algorithms and AI. * **The Failure:** These algorithms are notoriously unreliable. The German Federal Police (BKA) has warned that **50% of all reports** generated under the current voluntary scheme are criminally irrelevant. * **Breyer’s comment:** _“We are talking about tens of thousands of completely legal, private chats being leaked to police annually due to faulty algorithms and AI. This is no more reliable than guessing. Calling this ‘voluntary’ does not make the violation of the digital secrecy of correspondence any less severe.”_ **2. The Death of anonymous communications: Age Checks for Everyone** To comply with the Council’s requirement to “reliably identify minors,” providers will be forced to verify the age of **every single user**. * **The Reality:** This means every citizen will effectively have to upload an ID or undergo a face scan to open an email or messenger account. * **The Consequence:** This creates a de facto ban on anonymous communication—a vital lifeline for whistleblowers, journalists, political activists, and abuse victims seeking help. * **Unworkable alternative:** Experts have warned that other methods for “Age assessment cannot be performed in a privacy-preserving way with current technology due to reliance on biometric, behavioural or contextual information… In fact, it incentivizes (children’s) data collection and exploitation. We conclude that age assessment presents an inherent disproportionate risk of serious privacy violation and discrimination, without guarantees of effectiveness.” **3. “Digital House Arrest” for Teenagers** Under the guise of protection, the Council text proposes barring users under 17 from using apps with chat functions—including WhatsApp, Instagram, and popular online games—unless stringent conditions are met. * **The Reality:** This amounts to a “Digital House Arrest,” isolating youth from their social circles and digital education. * **Breyer’s comment:** _“Protection by exclusion is pedagogical nonsense. Instead of empowering teenagers, the Council wants to lock them out of the digital world entirely.”_ **A Dangerous Road to 2026** Today’s vote was far from unanimous, with the **Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and Poland voting against** , and **Italy abstaining** , reflecting deep concerns within the EU about the legality and proportionality of the measure. Negotiations (“Trilogues”) between the Council and the European Parliament will soon begin, with the aim of finalizing the text before April 2026. **“We must stop pretending that ‘voluntary’ mass surveillance is acceptable in a democracy,”** Breyer concludes. **“We are facing a future where you need an ID card to send a message, and where foreign black-box AI decides if your private photos are suspicious. This is not a victory for privacy; it is a disaster waiting to happen.”** **Background Information & Contact** **About the Vote:** The Council mandate was today endorsed by the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER). **About the Procedure:** The text will now be negotiated with the European Parliament. The Parliament’s mandate (adopted in Nov 2023) explicitly rules out indiscriminate scanning and demands targeted surveillance based on suspicion. More information: chatcontrol.eu

In Praise of RSS and Controlled Feeds of Information (blog.burkert.me) 13:13  ↑ 106 HN Points

Linux, server and Open Source weblog of Thomas Leister

Over the past few months, I've amassed the world's largest collection of Meshtastic devices (read: 4), and using my newfound power, I have built a Mastodon client that doesn't require an internet connection¹. ### The Plan: # Chain together a series of Meshtastic radios so I can post to my account anywhere in the city without access to my phone. ### The Implementation: # Meshtastic provides a Python library to interact with a connected Meshtastic device over serial (USB) or Bluetooth. We use this to receive messages from our device(s). 1. Connect radio to PC 2. Python script reads messages from Meshtastic 3. If sent from authenticated user, post a status to configured Mastodon instance 4. Python script subscribes to Mastodon user's notifications 5. When a notification is received, send that to the configured Meshtastic channel The script for 'Mastastic' can be found here. The problem with my apartment is it's mostly beneath the ground, and the problem with Columbus is it's mostly a city. Both of these problems combine to make it very difficult to have the long-range Meshtastic mesh of my dreams. I used a state-of-the-art extension system for the radio connected to my computer to give it access to the outside world. --- **8ft of pure, bona fide USB routed through a hole created by a cat who broke into my apartment** The next radio was magnetically secured to a dumpster. --- **A breath of fresh air** And the final one was attached to a tree just outside a cemetery. --- **Just dying to get in** ### The Result: # At 5:02 PM, I found myself in a desolate Kohl's parking lot 0.5 miles away from my apartment. ~~I pulled out my deck~~ Using my LilyGo T-Deck, a standalone device I have that doesn't require a Bluetooth connection to a phone to use, I typed out a command: '`!post sending this #mastodon post over #meshtastic from about 0.5 miles away`', and instantly got the acknowledgment from Mastastic that my message was received. Success. --- **https://tomkahe.com/@tom/114559165475833367** Time to push my luck. I moved across the river to a nearby park, roughly 0.75 miles away from my house, typed out the message: '`!post sending this one in a park about 0.75 miles away`' --- **https://tomkahe.com/@tom/114559209932611789** And for the grand finale? I drove up to a nearby Kroger, exactly 1 mile away. I sent out a '`!ping`' and got the response '`pong!`' from the Python script, and sent forth my command: '`!post sending this from a Kroger parking lot exactly 1 mile away`'. The message turned red — it wasn't received by any nodes in the area. '`!post barely sending this from a Kroger 1 mile away`' I tried again. And again the message turned red. Nothing. '`!post barely sending this from a Kroger 1 mile away #mastodon #meshtastic`'. It turned green! Unfortunately, not detected by any of my nodes — no post made. '`!post *barely* sending this from a Kroger 1 mile away`'. Nothing. '`!ping`'. No response. '`!ping`'. No response. Twelve minutes have passed. '`!ping`'. It turned green! No response. '`!post sending this from a Kroger`'. Nothing. '`!post from 1 mile away, barely`'. Nothing. '`!post sending this from 1 mile away?`'. Green! Nothing. '`!post maybe possibly 1 mile away?`'. Green! Nothing. Twenty minutes have passed. The T-Deck makes a notification sound — new message: '`(username_hidden_for_privacy) liked your status`'. It was clear the connection was (somewhat) there, but no matter what I did, my messages weren't getting sent out. '`!post 1 mile away maybe hopefully`'. Nothing. '`!ping`'. It turned green! No response. '`!post I'm getting notifications from 1 mile away but no posts :(`'. It turned green! Nothing. After 25 minutes, I finally started to give up hope and decided to head to my next destination 1.5 miles away. (The Meshtastic Site Planner had suggested that my apartment might have better signal in an area slightly farther away.) So, I sent out one final message: '`!post last try, 1 mile?`'. It turned red. No luck. But wait, what's this? --- **https://tomkahe.com/@tom/114559331767436047** It worked! From exactly 1 mile away, I was able to post to Mastodon, achieving the lifelong goal of millions of posters everywhere. ### Outcomes # It should be easy for someone to take this and extend it to significantly greater distances—and I hope they do. Unfortunately, for now, one mile is the best I can manage. --- **expect great things** * * * 1. This is a blatant lie. I am a liar. Mastastic Source Code

Organizers say it was the largest transgender rights march in the world.

Hey @wmurphyrd 👋 I notice as of September 2025, the domains gup.pe and immers.space seem to have expired and a.gup.pe has been replaced with a WordPress installation full of SEO-targeted content ab...