Context:
Chat Control 2.0: EU governments set to approve the end of private messaging and secure encryption
"By making a minor concession EU governments hope to find a majority next week to approve the controversial 'chat control' bill. According to the proposed child sexual abuse regulation (CSAR), providers of messengers, e-mail and chat services would be forced to automatically search all private messages and photos for suspicious content and report it to the EU. To find a majority for this unprecedented mass surveillance, the EU Council Presidency proposed Tuesday that the scanners would initially search for previously classified CSAM only, and even less reliable technology to classify unknown imagery or conversations would be reserved to a later stage. The proposed โdealโ will be discussed by ambassadors tomorrow and could be adopted by ministers next week."
Obviously. The point is that it's the kind of thing that will make me reject the very society I'm living in, and I would change it wholly to avoid this.
If the source was my own government, for the first time in my life, I'd be considering moving to a new country.
I will just remind yall that an state in the EU has admitted to having access to the Pegasus spyware.
Pegasus is a program that is used by services combating crime and corruption in many countries...It would be bad if the Polish services did not have this type of tool
- Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party as quoted by the Verge (first article I found)
He is also quoted as saying that claims that Pegasus had been used against political opponents are "utter nonsense".
The Polish controversy was started when the spyware was found on a opposition members phone.
The Law and Justice party, according to polls (and some Poles), is set to win the largest number of seats in tomorrows election, though they might struggle to form a government.
One could think you're proposing this as an alternate solution. It's not. And Brexit is the biggest proof.
That said implementing backdoors is so backwards it's creative in the worst way. You basically prepare the tools for a rogue government, rogue government employee, or a knowledgeable malicious actor to grab secure information from the silver plater. It's the dumbest shit.
One could think you're proposing this [leaving the EU] as an alternate solution. It's not. And Brexit is the biggest proof.
This is not a random thing thrown around, though it should be noted that those more involved in this side of "EU bad" usually advocate for remaking the EU, due to the deep systemic issues rather than leaving it. I believe a more mainstream version of this idea is given a stage by Macron (AFAIK he mostly wants to remove the requirement for every country to agree to some things), but moreso from this angle some Pirate Parties (PPP for example) advocate for it.
Quote from PPP's programee (translated by yours truly, though I focused on translating it as directly as possible so it might sound a bit weird):
More democracy for Europe
We, Pirates, call for a writing of a new EU treaty, which will replace all existing treaties, remove uncertainties and respond to the need of a democratic reform in the EU. This treaty must be accepted by the citizens of the EU via a referendum.
While this is quite different to "we should leave the EU" it reflects the concerns of those who say that due to policies like this. As far as I know, Brexit was caused more by Brits not liking economic policies of the European Union, though I am not that knowledgeable about UK politics.
TL;DR: you can say EU bad while still wanting an EU I guess.
As far as I know, Brexit was caused more by Brits not liking economic policies of the European Union, though I am not that knowledgeable about UK politics.
I'm not that knowledgeable, being an American, but my understanding is that Brexit was mainly the result of racism, and of English people falling for easily disproven lies about the economic impact of EU membership. I'd like to think that what I lack in direct experience of British politics, I make up for with direct experience of the exact same bullshit in American politics.