#även om mycket här är jävligt fult spel

[four-ravens-in-a-trenchcoat]

So this was originally a vent post, but it broke containment a bit and I've seen lots of angry/disillusioned people in the notes so now that I've calmed down and done more research I'll return to this (still in English because I think it broke sweblr containment too, but sources will be in Swedish). @svenskjavel since I blame you for my notes, please reblog this version too

First off, what is chat control 2.0?

In 2022, Ylva Johansson (Swedish politician from Socialdemokraterna) put forward a proposition to EU to combat CSAM dubbed chat control by critics. That version was worse than the current (all digital communication scanned, no way to "consent", encryption broken after the message is sent instead of scanning before encryption but security-wise it makes no difference) which is still horrible. Since then, it's been hotly debated and was blocked by the European parliament last year.

Chat control 2.0 is an attempt at a compromise made by Belgium who are currently chair of the European Council which has the same integrity, misuse and security problems.

Will this 100% pass now?

Fortunately not, but it's a step on the way. Let's talk about the EU desicion process: There are three instances. The EU Comission puts forward propositions and the Council and Parliament pass the laws.

The Council consists of ministers from EU countries who represent the country's interest. In Sweden (and I assume other countries as well), they're members of the Government (regeringen alltså) who are supposed to listen to EU-nämnden (EU committee) which consists of 17 members of parliament (riksdagen) with party affiliation according to the latest riksdag election in 2022. But ultimately, the Government decides (but may get a declaration of no confidence from parliament).

It's in the European Council that this proposition might pass, if France also decides to support it (can't find my source for that, sorry). I've also seen some things about a special way to pass it in the council which would pass it easier? Either way, it seems to look bad even though the desicion has been postponed for now. This is not just a Sweden problem. I haven't found a list of what different countries will vote for or what they voted on the earlier proposal, but look it up in your country. It's enough countries to be worried.

The European Parliament represents the people and this is what EU elections elect. The law still has to pass there, so all hope is not lost. More people in the Parliament seem more negative to chat control, so we have a good chance still. If you look at the Swedish parties represented in both riksdagen and EU, some parties (like M) are for chat control on a national level but against it in the EU. There is also a third version of the proposition made by the Parliament which may be better, but I don't know what changes it contains.

So, what happened during the meeting?

A Swedish desicion was fast-tracked by presenting and voting about the proposition in a justice committe meeting instead of the EU committee. The announcement was made by the chair of the EU committee (from Moderaterna) literally two minutes before the meeting in question. Yes, really.

The proposition was passed with only C and SD making official protests. Since S, M and KD hold 9 out of 17 places and like chat control 2.0, it doesn't really matter what the other parties think. Still, Miljöpartiet (MP) and Vänsterpartier (V) whose parties are against chat control 2.0 didn't make any reservations. They have one member each.

What has MP and V said afterwards?

Gudrun Nordborg (V) claims it was a mistake since the process was so rushed and that she should have made an official protest. She made a facebook post afterwards to apologise and make clear that V is still against chat control 2.0. The party claims she mistook the Belgian compromise (chat control 2.0) for the Parliament version.

As for David Ling (MP), it's a bit of a civil war. The party claimed it was a honest mistake just like for Nordborg, but leaked internal posts from him show that he voted for the compromise since he liked it. Lots of people in MP are understandably very angry about it. He also got an angry call from the party leader about it. In the EU parliament, MP is still against chat control 2.0.

So on a whole, the situation is less bad and more nuanced than I made it out in the original post, but please do write to your representatives if you live in an EU county. If you live in Sweden, I'll drop a link to an email builder from one of the sources linked in the previous reblog. Read their FAQs for more information on the consequences of chat control 2.0 (including technical questions) and their collection of Swedish parties' opinions and previous actions in this matter.

Fuck this shit

Now Sweden gives thumbs-up to chat control 2.0, an awful proposition which would require digital communication providers to allow government access to encrypted private messages ("but only photo, video and links now :):):) not literally every digital communication you do :):):)"). This is a massive invasion to personal integrity, a fucking data security risk and an "'accidentally' surveilled the groups I like to opress or my political opponents a bit, oops" risk, especially in the more authoritarian countries. All to find, you know it, child porn and grooming (this will of course not catch teens sending consensual nudes, vacation pictures of babies on beaches sent to family members or normal porn and waste massive resources on scanning and processing "suspect" content).

Did I mention this sucks yet? They didn't even ask the government people supposed to decide our stance on EU politics, just the justice committee. During a single meeting, no debate. Sweden's desicion means a larger probablility that this passes in EU.

And you know what? Two parties which my views generally align with, who before the election NOT EVEN TWO WEEKS AGO, one of which I voted for partly because of their stance on this (no to mass surveillance, personal integrity is important) BOTH DID A 180 AND VOTED FOR CHAT CONTROL. One thing if parties I don't like and don't vote for do this, but I trusted these fuckers to have at least a little backbone/common sense. Also why did the nationalistic and generally shitty party SD vote no to this. Why do only they and C think this is a bad idea.

In other news, I've written to my first representative today to express my disappointment. I hope this doesn't pass silently.