After Sunday‘s European elections, the EU is planning to reintroduce indiscriminate communications data retention without suspicion and force manufacturers to allow law enforcement access to digital devices such as smartphones and cars.

Specifically, according to the 42-point surveillance plan, manufacturers are to be legally obliged to make digital devices such as smartphones, smart homes, IoT devices, and cars monitorable at all times (“access by design”). Messenger services that were previously securely encrypted are to be forced to allow for interception.

The secure encryption of metadata and subscriber data is to be prohibited. Where requested by the police, GPS location tracking should be activated by service providers (“tracking switch”).

The EU Commission has already contributed specific proposals to the surveillance plan, according to two presentations obtained by the Pirates.

Make sure to vote in the upcoming elections!

  • hauiA
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    22 days ago

    Education has always been the enemy of autocracy. Depriving people of it is a perfectly effective way to make them gullable and easily swayable by rhetoric.

    Of course those in power (0.1%) dont want anyone to come up with alternatives to their supreme reign. Thats why, every push for less education, making it less affordable and paywalling knowledge should be condemned as a thinly veiled attempt at securing their infinite authority. Their kids get the education they need, ours wont.

    I always envision us watering our fields with mountain dew in that situation.