I made a similar post about KOSA 2 years ago and it blew up, so I'm hoping to get the same hype for this.
The EU wants to implement an even worse legislation called Chat Control, in which a trained AI will scan every single one of your messages and photos before they're even sent. They want to destroy end-to-end encryption and scan every single one of your messages in the name of "child protection" from predators.
They want to end privacy with the excuse of protecting children, giving them the possibility to utilize this legislation for far worse. From political expression to free speech, this legislation could put an end to all of it. Everybody in the EU will be affected. You, your family, your friends, your personal feelings and ideas. They will see everything.
If you want to fight it, please, i ask you to visit this website and contact your representatives with a written email, show them the population is against this.
Remember one thing: THEY'RE voting. NOT us. This is not what our democracy says. We've got 2 weeks to do the biggest push against this law. You have to act NOW.
Learn about the EU Chat Control proposal and contact your representatives to protect digital privacy and encryption.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
Crises precipitate change. That's no reason to induce a crisis, but you'd be a fool to let a crisis go to waste. Donald Trump is the greatest crisis of our young century, and the EU looks set to squander the opportunity, to its own terrible detriment.
For more than a decade, it's been clear that the American internet was not fit for purpose. The whistleblowers Mark Klein and Edward Snowden revealed that the US had weaponized its status as the world's transoceanic fiber-optic hub to spy on the entire planet:
American companies repurposed their over-the-air software update capabilities to remotely brick expensive machinery in service to geopolitical priorities:
Then Trump and his tech companies started attacking key public institutions around the world, shutting down access for senior judges who attempted to hold Trump's international authoritarian allies to account for their crimes:
If Trump wants to steal Greenland, he doesn't need tanks or missiles. He can just tell Microsoft and Oracle to brick the entire Danish state and all of its key firms, blocking their access to their email archives, files, databases, and other key administrative tools. If Denmark still holds out, Trump can brick all their tractors, smart speakers, and phones. If Denmark still won't give up Greenland, Trump could blackhole all Danish IP addresses for the world's majority of transoceanic fiber. At the click of a mouse, Trump could shut down the world's supply of Lego, Ozempic, and delicious, lethally strong black licorice.
Now, these latent offensive capabilities were obvious long before Trump, but the presidents who weaponized them in the pre-Trump era did so in subtle and deniable ways, or under a state of exception (e.g. in response to spectacular terrorist attacks or in the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine) that let bystanders assure themselves that this wouldn't become a routine policy.
After all, America profited so much from the status quo in which America and its trading partners all pretended that US tech wouldn't be weaponized for geopolitical aims, so a US president would be a fool to shatter the illusion. And even if the president was so emotionally incontinent that he demanded the naked weaponization of America's defective, boobytrapped tech exports, the power blocs that the president relies on would stop him, because they are so marinated in the rich broth that America drained from the world using Big Tech.
This is "status quo bias" in action. No one wants to let go of the vine they're swinging from until they have a new vine firmly in their grasp – but you can't reach the next vine unless you release your death-grip on your current one. So it was that, year after year, the world allowed itself to become more dependent on America's easily weaponizable tech, making the tech both more dangerous and harder to escape.
Enter Trump (a crisis) (and crises precipitate change). Under Trump, the illusion of a safe interdependence crumbled. Every day, in new and increasingly alarming ways, Trump makes it clear that America doesn't have allies or trading partners, only adversaries and rivals. Every day, Trump proves to the world that American tech isn't merely untrustworthy – it's a live, dire, urgent danger to your state, your companies, and your people. The best time to get shut of the American internet was 15 years ago. The second best time is right fucking now.
NOW!
The result is the burgeoning movement to build a "post-American internet." In Canada, PM Mark Carney's announcement of a "rupture" has the country rethinking its deep connections to the American internet and asking what it could do to escape it:
Europe, meanwhile, has multiple, advanced, well-funded initiatives to leave the American internet behind and migrate to a post-American internet, like "Eurostack" and the European Digital Infrastructure Consortium:
But status quo bias exerts a powerful gravity. A reactionary counterrevolution is being waged in the European Commission – the permanent bureaucracy that executes Europe's laws and regulations. Within the EC, an ascendant faction has announced plans for a "dialogue" with representatives from the Trump regime to let them direct the enforcement of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), Europe's landmark 2024 anti-Big Tech regulations:
The DMA and DSA require America's tech giants to open up their platforms in ways that would halt the plunder of Europeans' private data and cash. US tech giants have flatly refused to comply with these rules, relying on Trump to get them out of any obligations under EU law:
That's a sound bet. After all, the last thing Trump did before his inauguration was publicly announce his intention to destroy any country that attempted to enforce these laws:
And he's ordered his tech companies to turn over the private emails and messages of other European officials, so he can identify the ones most dangerous to US tech plunder and sanction them, too:
The quislings and appeasers in the Commission who've been spooked by Trump's belligerence (or tempted by offers of cushy jobs in Big Tech after they leave public service) are selling out the EU's future. Caving to Trump won't make him more favorably disposed to Europe or Europeans. Trump treats every capitulation as a sign of weakness that signals that he can safely ignore his end of the bargain and demand twice as much. For Trump, the "art of the deal" can be summed up in one word: reneging.
Within the EU, there's fury at the Commission's announcement of "dialogue." As Politico's Milena Wälde reports, lawmakers like Alexandra Geese (Greens) say that this is a move that eliminates the "sovereign path for Europe" by letting tech giants "grade their own homework." She calls it a "fatal decision for our companies and our democracy."
Moving to the post-American internet is hard – but it will only get harder. Sure, Europe could wait for the next crisis to let go of the Big Tech vine and grab the Eurostack one, but that next crisis will be far, far worse. The EU can't afford to wait for Trump to brick one or more of its member states to (finally, at long last) take this threat seriously:
🇪🇺🇵🇸 EUROPEAN UNION COMMISSION ANNOUNCES THEY WILL NOT BE SUSPENDING AID TO PALESTINE AFTER MEMBER REVOLT
The European Commission announced on Monday they would be suspending aid to Palestine, then quickly backtracked, further announcing aid would NOT be suspended.
Earlier Monday, European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi had told reporters that all payments from the development program for Palestinians would be "immediately suspended" with "all projects put under review. All budget proposals... postponed until further notice."
Then later today, the European Commission released a short statement saying, "there will be no suspension of payments."
The initial announcement took member states by surprise, with Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg dissenting and critics accusing the European Union of collective punishment against Palestinian civilians.
“[Foreign Minister] Jose Manuel Albares called European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi to say he disagrees with this decision,” Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said following the initial announcement.
“Our understanding is that there is no legal basis for a unilateral decision of this kind by an individual commissioner and we do not support a suspension of aid,” a spokesman for Ireland’s foreign ministry had also said.
Luxembourg's Foreign Minister followed suit, expressing their refusal to support the proposal.
The EU plans to create a plan to redirect funds frozen from Russia to Ukraine
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also promises a special court to investigate and prosecute Russian war crimes.
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The EU Commission is doing what, for example, Poland and the Baltic countries have earnestly requested of it. The commission intends to create a plan to seize and use the frozen assets of Russian oligarchs and the central bank more effectively than at present and can directed the funds to repairing the damage caused by the Russian invasion in Ukraine.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday on the messaging service Twitter that the Commission will establish a special court together with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in order to hold Russia accountable for all its war crimes.
The role of the special court would be to ensure that Russia's crime of aggression is investigated and convicted.
In addition, the commission intends to ensure that the confiscation of Russian assets is carried out. However, it won't be easy.
The Commission has prepared a basic document for discussions with member countries in the upcoming EU meetings. Discussions are also held with the G7 countries and at the UN.
According to Von der Leyen, the Commission intends to create a "structure" with international partners that would manage and invest the funds seized so far. The proceeds would be used for the benefit of Ukraine.
"When the sanctions end, these funds should be used so that Russia pays full compensation," says von der Leyen.
In principle, all frozen funds must be returned to their owners when the war ends with a peace agreement and the sanctions may be lifted. However, according to EU officials, the peace agreement could specify that these funds should be used for compensation for Ukraine.
Von der Leyen said she believes that together with international partners, the EU will find a legal way to implement the plan.
This sentence is essential, because confiscation cannot go as far as it should go, but the EU has to develop a solution that is sustainable in court.
The property of private individuals cannot now be confiscated other than on the basis of a valid criminal conviction.
According to EU officials, on Tuesday the EU member states have accepted the principle that the evasion of sanctions will be criminalized. The Commission will make a more detailed presentation on this soon.
It would possibly increase criminal convictions and thereby facilitate confiscations even before the end of the war.
A total of 19 billion euros have been frozen for private funds, i.e. the funds of people who have been put on the embargo list and who support Vladimir Putin.
More important than that are the frozen assets of the Russian central bank, which the EU and the G7 group of countries have frozen for at least 300 billion euros.
Russia cannot currently use this foreign exchange reserve, but the EU plans to transfer the funds to a separate fund and use their income for the benefit of Ukraine. The Commission did not agree to estimate how much the return could be, because it does not know exactly how much of the foreign exchange reserve is frozen in the EU.
Johnnie Walker’s parent company Diageo – whose brand portfolio also includes Guinness and Smirnoff – has paired up with venture management firm Pilot Lite to kick off a new sustainable packaging company called Pulpex Limited. The new venture will offer environmentally sound solutions to delivering plastic-free packaging to an ever-increasing,...
Our Rich Uncl€ Titi, EU Commissioner for Monaaaay, Satellites, Tanks 'n Stuff, is so rich he basically took on the biggest EU Commission portfolio for FUN and it shows.
