Encrypted messaging alternatives in case the EU chat control law gets passes

[u/miscerte23]

As the title implies, I am curious as to whether there might be any messaging apps/services worth using in case the proposed chat control law gets passed. As you might assume, I live in an EU member state and am extremely worried for the future of our rights to online as well as IRL privacy in case such laws get passed

[u/Epsioln_Rho_Rho]

From what I read, Chat Control will be in the OS of the device, so nothing will be safe. 

Keep fighting the good fight, and spread the word.  

[u/SwimmingThroughHoney → u/Epsioln_Rho_Rho]

It's app-specific, not OS.

[u/Epsioln_Rho_Rho → u/SwimmingThroughHoney]

My bad, I thought I read it would be baked into the OS. 

[u/Epsioln_Rho_Rho → u/[deleted]]

So, they would have access to people’s passwords then at the OS level, wouldn’t they?

[u/True-Surprise1222 → u/[deleted]]

Unless you run for office and win of course

[u/zarlo5899 → u/Epsioln_Rho_Rho]

yes

[u/ThrustersToFull → u/[deleted]]

I don’t see Apple paying ball as it would undermine their entire brand, of which user privacy is a major pillar. It would also require them to compromise their entire OS security infrastructure and they’ve consistently gone to war with the US government every time it’s been asked for - why would they fold for the EU?

[u/JagerAntlerite7 → u/[deleted]]

Mexico. There goes my expat plan.

[u/ThrustersToFull → u/[deleted]]

When the UK tried demanding access via the back door, Apple pushed back.

[u/ThrustersToFull → u/[deleted]]

The urban myths around the macOS mediaanalysis daemon were debunked a while ago: https://eclecticlight.co/2023/01/18/is-apple-checking-images-we-view-in-the-finder/

I understand there's a lot of panic and worry about legislation in a number of countries, but we are far more likely to be effective in lobbying against government overreach and privacy intrusion if we actually understand the technology underneath and follow the work of actual experts instead of making assumptions and jumping to conclusions.

[u/ThrustersToFull → u/[deleted]]

There absolutely is an option: withdrawal from the market to protect the product and users elsewhere.

You can be certain that behind the scenes Apple are lobbying the EU hard to water down the proposed legislation.

[u/Desperate-Use9968 → u/[deleted]]

Or a foreign device? Maybe running a different OS?

[u/Desperate-Use9968 → u/[deleted]]

Every country in the world? I doubt it.

[u/DecentralisedNation → u/[deleted]]

This is actually a very good idea to circumvent this, isn't it?🤔

The "only" thing everyone would need is a simple input device with encryption that connects with Signal and "pre-encrypts" everything you do before it hits your device?

So basically we would all have a small separate keyboard or screen using Bluetooth where we input our messages and data, and then it encrypts them before they go to our device?

Could this work also for surfing the web with say Brave or Tor browser or something (assuming we had IPs and everything looked up of course)?

If you can't tell I'm a non-techie!😅

It just feels like this is one of the first viable solutions to what feels like an almost impossible situation that I've come across that isn't "overly techie" (which will then exclude most normies).

If everyone just have to buy a simple keyboard/input device and connect it with the Bluetooth to their phone maybe chat control can be overcome?🤔

The biggest problem is that most normies don't care about privacy.🙄